Veteran Manx journalist Terry Cringle has finally put his reporter’s notebook and microphone away after a remarkable career lasting more than 70 years.

At the age of 89, Mr Cringle confirmed to the Manx Independent that he has finally decided to retire.

Looking back on his incredible career it was not long before the memories and the stories came flooding back.

He said the Summerland fire in the summer of 1973 was ’probably the biggest and most tragic story I covered. I was freelancing at the time supplying news for national UK newspapers and radio and television. Every second counted and you could not put anything off because you had tough deadlines to meet’.

But there were many happier events to report on during a career that was rarely dull.

’There was lots of fun’ admitted the newsman who always had an eye for a story.

He also interviewed the rich and famous. He said: ’When the casino opened on the Palace Hotel on Douglas seafront it was run by a company from London and they were wondering who they should get to perform the opening ceremony and I told them: ’’There is only one man to do it, OO7, Sean Connery.’’

’He was a pleasure to talk to. But when he spun the roulette wheel he threw the ball in, but instead of it dropping in a winning slot it bounced out again’.

On another occasion the intrepid hack found himself in a potentially embarrassing moment interviewing the Dutch actress Sylvia Kristel in her hotel bedroom. She was famous for the Emmanuelle films in the early 1970s and was in the island making a film. But like all good hacks he got the story.

Mr Cringle said: ’I’ve been fortunate to have had an enjoyable life.’

Speaking from his home in Ian Cannell Court, Douglas he said: ’Family life is the most important thing in the world and to me my family is priceless. I’ve been fortunate that my son and daughter are clever as are my three grandchildren.

’I’ve been a very, very lucky man on many many counts.’

Mr Cringle’s childhood was at a holiday boarding house run by his parents, Studley House on Queen’s Promenade, Douglas and he went to school at nearby St Thomas’s.

As well as writing for the Examiner, including compiling Times Past, he also worked for a string of newspapers in the UK. He always had an eye for humour and his Cringle columns were always eagerly read by readers.

He was also a broadcaster with the BBC as well as Manx Radio.