A WELL-known face from local TV in the 1970s and 80s has died, aged 74.

James Montgomery worked for local independent TV from 1970 to 1989.

He was a reporter and presenter for Southern Television and then Television South on programmes such as Day by Day and the award-winning Coast to Coast as well as many documentaries.

Mr Montgomery presented the popular series Music in Camera and forged a close relationship with the Bournemouth Orchestras working with the leading artists of the day to record and present opera and concerts on television.

He was one of the founders and directors of Ocean Sound; radio for the Solent region. Between 1994 and 2008 he wrote and produced several one hour documentaries as well as five series of six half hours for BBC Radio 2. Programmes included The Danny Kaye Story, All Sail in Her (the story of the Queen Mary), Howard Keel’s Playhouse, Dorothy Fields – First Woman of Broadway and the award-winning Sammy Davis Jnr Story.

He was an accomplished musician and a well-known figure in Stockbridge Amateur Dramatic Society and joined several choirs in Winchester.

He was married three times and had a daughter.