CELEBRATED writer of more than 40 books, Ronald Blythe, has died at the age of 100 in Wormingford.

The best-known work of his literary career was Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village, which was published 1969, before it was made into a film five years later.

Mr Blythe was born and raised in Suffolk in 1922, and briefly served in the Second World War before it was decided he was unfit for service.

It was then that Mr Blythe returned to England, taking up a post as a reference librarian in Colchester Library.

From the 1960s onwards, Mr Blythe wrote prodigiously, publishing his first book, A Treasonable Growth, at the turn of the decade.

His major success, however, was Akenfield – a novel which told the story of a fictional village in rural Suffolk and inspired a film in which Mr Blythe starred in a cameo role as a vicar.

Mr Blythe later moved to Wormingford, six miles north west of Colchester, where he remained for the rest of his life, writing a respected column called Word from Wormingford in the Church Times.

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For decades, Mr Blythe led services at churches in Wormingford and Little Horkseley, before he then received the honour of Reader Emeritus from the Bishop of Colchester, the Rt Rev Roger Morris, in 2018.

He published his final book, Next to Nature: A Lifetime in the English Countryside, in October last year.

Speaking about his friendship with Mr Blythe, fellow writer Ian Collins – who first met Mr Blythe in 1988 when he approached him to write a foreword from his book – described Mr Blythe as an immensely grateful man

He said: “He was my mentor and best friend – we had wonderful times and he was looked after by a wonderful circle of friends.

“He loved being read to and having music played to him – he was grateful for everything, because he wasn’t a complaining person.

“Ronnie had amazing robust health – he wasn’t known to the medical services until he was 95.

"He just had this wonderful outlook of great optimism and great kindness.

“Virtually the last words he said were ‘thank you’.”