Tributes for TV star

Tributes have been paid to former One Man And His Dog presenter Phil Drabble, who died at the age of 93.

He died at his home in Abbots Bromley, Staffordshire, on Sunday morning, the BBC said.

Mr Drabble presented the long-running BBC2 show from 1976 to 1993. He was also a columnist for the Shropshire Star for a number of years. Mr Drabble, a widower, was a naturalist and author of several books on wildlife.

Family friend Ruth Froggatt said: "Phil retired from One Man And His Dog but he didn't retire altogether. He still did his writing and his newspaper column.

"He was writing well into his 80s and it was only in the last few years that he hadn't been so well."

Mr Drabble was the original presenter of One Man And His Dog.

In its heyday, the show attracted eight million viewers.

"When the BBC first asked me to present the programme in 1975, I refused because I thought it would be too boring for words," he said when he left the show in 1993.

"The viewers didn't think so, but I'm amazed it has lasted this long."

The programme continued with Robin Page as presenter but was finally axed in 1999.

Mr Drabble was named Midlander of the Year in 1992 and received an OBE in 1993.

He was renowned for his forthright opinions - referring to ramblers as "the woolly hat brigade" and the then Ministry of Agriculture as "monumental incompetents".