Former Telegraph & Argus showbusiness writer Ronald Boyle has died aged 89.

Mr Boyle died peacefully after a ten-year battle with cancer.

The great-granddad had 1,001 stories to tell about his colourful life rubbing shoulders with rock and pop stars but never wrote any of them down, said his son Graham.

Mr Boyle grew up in Leeds but after his railwayworker father was killed by a train, he moved to Hull with his mother and sisters.

He began his career as a junior reporter at the Hull Daily Mail. In the 1950s he became the T&A’s showbiz reporter.

Mr Boyle went to work for the Daily Express in Manchester as its pop correspondent, mingling with the likes of the Rolling Stones. “He brought them home for tea. I think they came a couple of times,” said his son.

Mr Boyle met his wife Sylvia at a dance hall in Westgate, Bradford. They went on to have two sons then later in life he had a daughter Rebecca with a long-term companion.

Mr Boyle spent the last four years of his life living in Queensbury at a sheltered housing complex.

His funeral will be held at St John the Baptist Church in Clayton at 1pm on Monday. A collection in his memory will go to Cancer Research UK.