Billericay's best known historian and museum curator, Ted Wright, has died.

The 69-year-old - famed for running the Cater Museum and wowing crowds with his tours of the town - passed away suddenly at his house in Ramsden Heath.

It is believed he may have suffered a heart attack and a funeral is planned for Monday at Great Burstead church.

Brian Crook, one of Ted's best friends, was speaking to him when he died.

Mr Crook said: "I was talking to him on the phone and thought he had gone to look for some documents.

"He said 'hold on for a moment' and I held and held and that was it.

"After about a quarter of an hour I hung up and waited for him to call back but then I called the operator to check the line.

"They said it was off the hook and I called the police."

Ted Wright was born in Billericay in 1930 and for many years indulged his passion for radios by working in repair shops before setting up his own business.

Then, for nearly 40 years, he watched over Billericay's history at the Cater Museum, in High Street, which was opened by its founder, Alice Cater, in 1960.

For more than half a century, local people have donated photographs and family possessions to the main collection.

To mark the museum's first 40 years, Ted even managed to bring out a popular book about the town, called Billericay Times.

He told the Echo earlier this year: "I was overwhelmed with the book's reception. Half the print run was sold within the first month of publication. We are even going into a second edition!"

The book covers nearly 300 years of the town's history and contains many little-known facts and anecdotes with supporting photographs and paintings.

Peter Owen, former deputy editor of the Echo and friend of Ted, said there was probably no one else with a greater knowledge of the town's history.

He said: "He was the natural choice when the post of curator of the Cater Museum became vacant.

"He immersed himself in the fascinating story of the growth of the town.

"A high spot of the year was his annual High Street Sunday morning walk when, like a Pied Piper, he would lead upwards of 200 people past landmarks and talk enthusiastically of their past."

Mr Owen said Ted always wanted to collect many of Billericay's old pictures into one volume.

He added: "He succeeded and with his illustrated book there can be no better memorial to the unique place he held in the town."

History - the Cater Museum where Ted spent nearly 40 years working

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