AN ex-reporter with the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, who went on to become one of Coronation Street's top scriptwriters, has died in a Clayton-le-Moors nursing home.

Leslie Duxbury, 79, was born in Clayton-le-Moors, and grew up in Milton Street. He later moved to Hindle Fold Lane, Great Harwood.

Among many other storylines he wrote in his 25 years with the show, he was responsible for the memorable episode on Christmas Day 1987 about Hilda Ogden's departure, which attracted a record soap opera audience of 26 million viewers.

He died at the Hollies Nursing Home, Church Street, on October 17.

Mr Duxbury became a scriptwriter for Coronation Street in the early 1960s.

At first he prepared storyline briefs, which were then fleshed out by other scriptwriters, but he quickly progressed to being a full-time scriptwriter and produced the show in 1974 and again in 1977.

In an interview with the Evening Telegraph in 1990 he said he had no doubt that the success of the Street was down to its Northern humour.

"There's very rarely an episode that you can't smile at," he said. "It's supposed to be a drama but its main ingredient is comedy. That's certainly why it has kept me interested."

He started his working life as a junior reporter on the Accrington Observer, in September 1942.

After serving as a petty officer in the Royal Navy in 1944 and 1945 he returned to reporting and worked in the Accrington, Burnley and Nelson district offices of the Evening Telegraph.

He went on to work for national newspapers, including the Daily Express, Daily Sketch, News Chronicle, and Daily Mirror.

Mr Duxbury later worked as a freelance reporter and set up his own news agency, Star News, which was based in Blackburn.

With another former Corrie producer and journalist, Peter Eckersley, he created the first British prison situation comedy, Her Majesty's Pleasure, and wrote scripts for other shows, including A Sharp Intake of Breath, Angels, Z Cars, Crown Court and Bulman. He retired in 1991, aged 65, after 451 Coronation Street episodes, but continued to write about football for the Observer, which he had done since 1968.

Mr Duxbury leaves a wife Ruth, sons Nick, Tim and Pat and grandchildren Matthew, Lucy, Kate, Harry and James.

His funeral was held at Accrington Crematorium and was conducted by a member of the British Society of Humanists.