Former ITN newsreader and Conservative MP for Gravesend Tim Brinton has died, aged 79.
Brinton joined the BBC as a radio announcer in the early Fifties after completing his National Service, before moving to ITN as one of its first newscasters.
He enjoyed a varied career, presenting documentary features, interviewing the Shah of Iran and accidentally becoming the first nude newscaster on television following a programme about Turkish baths.
In 1975 he was elected to Kent County Council and in 1979 became Conservative MP for Gravesend.
After leaving parliament in 1987, he ran a broadcasting consultancy, training businessmen and politicians, and also chaired a District Health Authority.
Brinton was married twice and had six children.
His widow Jeanne said: “Tim will be missed by his many fans all over the country, who will feel they have lost a personal friend. The children, grandchildren and I deeply mourn his death.”
The family is organising a private funeral and a memorial service later in the year.
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