A regional daily journalist stripped off by the shore to mark 40 years since the opening of Britain’s first nudist beach.

Laurie Churchman, a reporter on Brighton daily The Argus, wore nothing but his “birthday suit” to mark the anniversary at Black Rock naturist beach.

The easterly patch of Brighton beach was first set aside for naked bathers on 9 August 1979, between the sea and the pebble mounds “that shield naked bodies from prying eyes.”

Armed with just a copy of The Argus for company, Laurie, pictured, took to the beach and recalled its foundation in a piece for the newspaper about his experience.

He wrote: “Brighton nudist beach was the brainchild of councillor and naturist Eileen Jakes. At the height of the frenzied campaign, she handed fellow councillors topless photos of herself on holiday in Ibiza. She even managed to get a working party of Tory councillors down to visit the site.

“Eileen billed the beach as a trailblazing tourist opportunity for the city, a radical way to broadcast Brighton’s welcoming streak all over the country. Forty years later, the city’s nudists are almost patriotic about their beach. One said: ‘It’s strange having this in England but in Brighton, it makes sense.’

“They tell me that on a sunny day, 30 or 40 naturists come here to bask. But today, it’s just the few lone men dotted along the beach like seals.

“It’s hard to believe this small, barren scrap of land left the whole city hot under the collar 40 years ago. For all the fuss about moral decay and tourists scrambling to visit, in the heat of the moment, everyone was wrong about the nudist beach. It really is no big deal.”

Argus journalists are no strangers when it comes to shedding clothes in search of a story.

Last year reporter Amir Razavi joined a naked cycle through the streets of Brighton on an old newspaper delivery bike.