Generations of children who have put their names down for a paper round have been left disappointed - after one man held on to his route for seven decades.

Ted Ingram, 90, started delivering papers in the village of Winterborne Monkton, near Dorchester in Dorset, in 1942. A tractor driver, he wanted to boost his income and in the following 68 years he has missed just two days’ work, both a result of snow storms. Even when he broke his back he arranged for his wife to fill in.

Mr Ingram says he enjoys the chance to have a bit of “chit chat” and plans to carry on until he is 100 - lovely, but not what pocket money-hungry kids want to hear.