A journalist who served as chief reporter of a weekly for 18 years before turning his hands to writing books has died aged 78.

Tributes have been paid to Brian Thomas, formerly of the Mid Devon Advertiser, who died after a short illness.

Brian, pictured, began his working life as an assistant at Falmouth Public Library before joining the Packet in 1969 as an advertising assistant, with the aim of eventually breaking into journalism.

He was eventually co-opted into the Packet newsroom, where he spent two years before joining the Advertiser, at that time a sister title.

Brian became the paper’s deputy chief reporter in 1977, before taking over as chief reporter in 1979.

After 18 years in the role, he took early retirement in 1997.

Since then he had been involved in a number of local publishing projects, including the annual Newton Abbot and Kingsteignton Town Guide, which he wrote and edited from 2004 to 2017.

Drawing on the Advertiser’s archives, he also wrote From Flood To Flood, in which he looked back on changes in Newton Abbot during thr 1970s, and Newton Abbot In The News, published in 1996.

Brian was also responsible for a large body of fictional work, including the Kindle ebook Guts, a comic novel highlighting the potential results of office stress, and the mini-books The UFO Armageddon, The Testing of Dottie Oxbridge and Other Grand Adventures.

A talented cartoonist, he provided drawings for both his newspapers and supplied a regular ‘Page One Laugh’ for the Advertiser in the late 1970s.

Long-time friend and former colleague, Karen Perrow, said: “Brian was one of the most talented and creative people we have all been privileged to know.

“Not only could he write detailed journalistic copy but he could knock out prose in such a natural way, as borne out by his prolific novels. He was also a sensitive poet, an accomplished musician and an amazing artist and cartoonist.

“I was one of his cub reporters on the Mid-Devon Advertiser during his time as chief reporter. They were busy days in an industry that was rapidly changing.

“They were crazy, happy days and Brian became more than a colleague but a lifelong friend who was always there over the years.”