A well-liked and respected Scottish journalist who spent 45 years on the staff of the Press & Journal has died from prostate cancer aged 89.

Jim Kinnaird was born in Peterhead and his family was dealt a tragic blow in 1935 when his father Henry, a plumber, was killed falling from the roof of a house  in Old Deer, leaving his widow Bertha to bring up two young boys – Jim, aged six, and his elder brother Jack, now 91 and living in Mintlaw.

Jim left Peterhead Academy early to join the office staff in Aberdeen  Journals’ Peterhead office on the condition he eventually be considered for a journalistic post.