A PENDLE man has died after collapsing at his home in Egypt.

David Speak, 54, a former Burnley restaurant worker, had been living in Luxor where he was a teacher.

He collapsed just days after his parents, Donald and Ann, who run a hardware shop in Earby town centre, had returned from a visit to see him in the north African country.

Mr Speak and his wife Marina lived in a luxury home which they had recently built overlooking the river Nile, close to the Valley of the Kings in Luxor.

His family have spoken of their shock at his death, which they are linking to an accident which saw him kicked in the head by a horse in Egypt 14 years ago.

He had experienced occasional seizures following the accident and collapsed on the stairs of his home last month and suffered a brain injury.

He spent two weeks in a coma at Luxor hospital, but died on Monday.

Mum Ann said: “He loved working overseas and had made his home in Egypt.

"He was passionate about his work and loved the adventure of life in the Middle East.

“His death was such a terrible shock.”

David was born and brought up at Sough, near Earby, and attended Kelbrook primary school before going on to Ermysted's Grammar School, Skipton.

After leaving school he went into the catering trade, working at the Bull Inn at Broughton.

He later became head waiter at the Spring Bank Hotel at Nelson.

Eventually he met he met his future wife Marina Hitchin, when he worked at her restaurant, the Dog and Sardine, in Burnley.

In 1990 he changed his career and together the couple began travelling the world as teachers.

Their first overseas post took them to Morocco.

They spent several years working in Cairo before heading to Karachi in Pakistan and then to Nigeria.

More recently they spent five years in Sudan and became embroiled in an international incident when children at their school named a teddy bear Mohammed, David had to work with Foreign Office officials to ensure the teacher involved could leave the country safely.

Before his collapse Mr and Mrs Speak were preparing to leave for a new job working at a military hospital in Saudi Arabia.

David is also survived by his sister Melanie.