Many readers will know Jim Allen as a former sports editor at the Journal, a role he filled for seven years.
Jim’s career in journalism also included a decade as editor of the Grantham & Melton Trader, which was taken over by the Journal.
His newspaper work gave him the opportunity to interview prominent politicians such as Margaret Thatcher, Douglas Hurd and Kenneth Clarke as well as sporting legends like George Best, Brian Clough, and Ian Botham.
Jim will also be well known to some as author of ‘The Grantham Connection’, which was published in 1986 and featured on Yorkshire Television.
He also wrote ‘Grantham Cinemas - When the curtain falls’, a study of all of the cinemas which have existed in the town.
A keen gardener, Jim saved a vandalised tree planted by Princess Diana on St Peter’s Hill.
He now spends his retirement exhibiting his acrylic paintings annually at the Guildhall Arts Centre, some of which have been sold to people in France and Australia.
Caricature by Terry Shelbourne