A FORMER editor of the Eagle magazine Derek Lord, who lived in Kent, has died after a short illness.

Mr Lord, who was 77, had lived in Sandwich for 23 years and was involved with many activities.

In April this year he played an important part in securing the granting of the Key to Sandwich for the Royal Engineers.

A ceremony was held on the Guildhall forecourt and it was a special moment for the former Sapper.

Mr Lord served with the Royal Engineers in Egypt and Greece when he was called up for National Service.

On his demob he joined the Eagle and became editor of the successful comic which featured Dan Dare. After leaving the magazine he worked in the publishing industry for 10 years as a journalist in South Africa and as a researcher for Reader's Digest.

In 2001 Mr Lord published A House of Lords, which he described as the memoirs of a mid-20th Century commoner. He donated the proceeds from its sale to the Royal Star and Garter Home and St Peter's Church in Sandwich, where he was in charge of the Royal Engineers memorial chapel in the Undercroft.

Mr Lord died at the Queen Mother Hospital in Margate following an emergency operation.

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