Sign up for our daily newsletter to get the day's biggest stories sent direct to your inbox At 17-years-old he joined the Bacup Times in the Rossendale Valley as a cub reporter.
He did his apprenticeship on the job covering the likes of church fellowship meetings. But he rose to be a colossus in the newsrooms of both national and regional newspapers.
Brian Rhodes, who has died aged 75, was a highly respected Assistant Editor of the Manchester Evening News. READ MORE: From the Arena attack to the coronavirus pandemic: The people looking after Manchester in its darkest hours But the title fails to capture the importance of his presence at the paper for 20 years.
Read more on manchestereveningnews.co.uk