A JOURNALIST who was one of the unsung heroes of this newspaper for nearly half a century has died at the age of 86.

Keith Innis was a prominent, popular and accomplished member of the editorial team of the Worcester Evening News and Berrow’s Newspapers, who worked both at Trinity House, when the publishing operation was in the heart of the city, and then at Berrow's House when it switched to new headquarters in Hylton Road in 1965.

His childhood was spent with his parents in the Cornmeadow area of Worcester and he was educated at the Worcester Royal Grammar School before being called up for National Service. This was spent mainly in the Military Police based at Gibraltar, where he rode motor-cycles and escorted VIPs.

On demob around 1950 he joined the editorial staff of the Evening News and Times at the Trinity and was, in turn, over the next four or more decades a general and sports reporter, senior reporter, theatre and entertainment critic, sub-editor, features editor, chief sub-editor and assistant editor of the Worcester Evening News, retiring in 1996.

In these roles, Mr Innis would have helped significantly to chronicle the life and times of the city and county through the second half of the 20th Century.

Throughout his teenage and adult life, Keith was an enthusiastic and keenly competitive amateur sportsman, accumulating quite a large collection of medals from his sporting exploits. He was a leading local rugby and tennis player as a young man and was a winning athlete and runner, particularly during his military service.

He played cricket for Berrow’s Newspapers and was a talented table-tennis player. But his great sporting love in later years was golf which he played on courses around the area particularly at Upper Sapey and Perdiswell.

He leaves a widow Sue - his wife of 40 years - two sons, a step-son, a step-daughter, and several grandchildren and great grandchildren. Sadly, his daughter Sally, who was employed in the photographic department of the Worcester Evening News for some years, died at a comparatively young age.