A FORMER Mid-Devon Advertiser reporter, historian, rally motorcyclist, veteran broadcaster and radio ham has died at the age of 88.

Alan Heather, who was based in Torquay, spent seven years on the Newton Abbot paper from the mid-’80s.

Former colleague Brian Thomas, a chief reporter on the MDA at the time, said: ‘Alan was great fun to work with. He had boundless – and often bounding – energy and would tackle any assignment with great enthusiasm.

‘He was a constant source of good cheer and endless curiosity and was held in high esteem by the company, his colleagues and his contacts and was much missed on his retirement.’

Another ex-colleague, Steve Taylor, who retired as the MDA’s chief sub-editor earlier this year, said of the tenacious newshound: ‘He was a reporter who never let anything go.

‘He would nibble and nibble away at a story until he got what he wanted. He was without doubt a true professional.’

He added: ‘He was greatly interested in so many things – books, history, radio. He was so inquisitive and hungry for facts and knowledge.’

One memorable incident from his days as a sleuth for truth was in 1987 when he fell victim to a severe bout of food poisoning during a gourmet night at Seale-Hayne College.

Tragically, he downed a dodgy oyster.

It was his very first contact with the aphrodisiac – but just a few hours later he passed out, banging his head in the fall and breaking his glasses.

But he was made of sterner stuff – and just 24 hours later he was back on his feet with pen in hand and notebook at the ready.

A major environmental health investigation was launched as a result of his fall-out with the notoriously hazardous shellfish.

He was a lifelong amateur radio enthusiast – and his proudest moment was unexpectedly finding himself chatting with blue-blooded royalty over the airwaves.

The radio man contacted call sign JY2RS and caught the name ‘Hussein.’

‘Hussein who?’ Alan inquired.

‘KING Hussein!’ snapped his fellow ham. He was talking to none other than the ruling monarch of Jordan.

In his retirement Alan edited the Ridgeway Times magazine which he produced for tenants in the block of flats where he and his wife Jeanne lived in Torquay.

Alan wrote two books for the Images of England series – on Torquay and Paignton, each containing vintage postcard illustrations of the towns.

He was distantly related to the Victorian eccentric, scientist and electrical engineer Oliver Heaviside whose discoveries helped develop radio communications.

Alan also wrote a biography of Heaviside who uncovered the Kennelly-Heaviside Layer, a strata of ionised gas between 90km and 150km above the ground which reflects radio waves, enabling signals to carry beyond the horizon.

In 2004, Alan was happy to be invited along to 2 Totnes Road, Newton Abbot, for the unveiling of a blue plaque commemorating the great man’s residence there a century earlier.

The funeral was last week at Torquay Crematorium. Alan left wife Jeanne, a son Julian and daughter Christine.