JOURNALIST and author Brian Thomas has died aged 78 following a short illness.

Brian, who lived in Abbotskerswell, was chief reporter of the Mid Devon Advertiser for 18 years.

Since taking early retirement in 1997, he was involved in a number of local publishing projects, including the annual publication of the Newton Abbot and Kingsteignton Town Guide, which he wrote and edited from 2004 to 2017 and the Newton Abbot Town Guide.

More recently, he wrote From Flood To Flood, drawing on the MDA archives, in which he described a decade of great change for Newton Abbot, from 1970 to 1979. Also with MDA co-operation, he wrote Newton Abbot In The News, published in 1996.

Born and educated in Falmouth, it was while at Trescobeas County Secondary School his talent as a cartoonist came to the fore, with the creation of a series of comic book adventures about his classmates.

In adult life, he provided drawings for both his newspapers and for many personal and private projects. He supplied a regular Page One Laugh for the Advertiser in the late 1970s.

He began working life as an assistant at Falmouth Public Library before joining the Packet in 1969 as an advertising assistant, with the aim of eventually making journalism his career.

The breakthrough came when he was co-opted into the Packet newsroom, where he spent two happy years before joining the Advertiser, at that time a sister paper.

He became its deputy chief reporter in 1977, before to taking over as chief reporter in 1979.

His wide range of spare-time interests included music, song-writing and singing with several rock bands and performing and recording comic, surreal songs with a long-time friend under the name The Bivalve Quickstep.

Over the years he wrote a large collection of scripts, poems, novels and short stories.

These include 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.

His most recent published work of fiction was Dara’s Bar, which skilfully interwove stories involving 10 story-tellers in one dingy backstreet bar.

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.

‘Myself and another young reporter, Sue Geatches, took part in his One Sheep Five recordings.

‘This involved going to Brian’s home one night a week and recording a zany script, for which we were rewarded with a home-cooked supper. I particularly remember the Guinness casserole which almost blew our socks off.

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