LONG-serving former Telegraph & Argus sports editor Peter Royston has died aged 81.

An extremely knowledgeable speedway reporter, who also had a keen interest in boxing, Peter replaced Jack Burns at the helm of the sports desk and retired in 1988, being replaced by Alan Birkinshaw.

Peter began work as a reporter on the Bingley Guardian, taking over as editor of the weekly paper in 1957 before moving to the Telegraph & Argus.

He covered World Championship speedway finals at Odsal in 1985 and 1990, and also travelled to Munich in 1976 to cover the world heavyweight boxing fight between Muhammad Ali and Bradford's Richard Dunn.

After retiring as a full-time journalist, Peter did shift work on the Yorkshire On Sunday newspaper and the Telegraph & Argus as a news sub-editor.

Peter, who lived in Riddlesden while he worked in Bradford and latterly Grange-Over-Sands on the west coast, had a good assessment of all sports stories, was excellent at laying out a page and was a speedy and accurate worker, leaves a wife Dorothy and a daughter.