A FORMER regional pub chain owner and entrepreneur has died.

Tom Porter's first pub, The Bakers Arms, Lytchett Minster, was awarded accolades including 'Pub of the Year'.

He died earlier this month aged 93.

Tom served in the Royal Navy with HRH Prince Phillip after attending the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth.

He went on to enjoy an executive position with the Brickwood and Whitbread breweries in the late 1960s and 70s, before developing his own range of restaurant pubs.

During these years Tom worked extensively with Sharon Burns and developed the pub quiz concept.

Known as Burns & Porter, they started with just 32 pub teams, but became the market leaders in this field, producing quizzes for up to 10,000 teams per week across the country and writing questions for many television quiz shows, as well as publishing pub quiz books with Corgi.

Tom Porter also wrote many books, amongst which were ‘Do It Yourself Divorce’ and the first book entitled ‘How to build your own Computer’ in which he described in layman’s language how simple it was to install a selection of components to make a powerful PC. With a high level of national media interest, Tom was able to sell copies of the book and created a lucrative mail order service for the components.

He also went on to write up some of his more controversial ideas such as ‘The Feminisation of Britain’.

Despite being in his 60s, Tom gained his helicopter private pilots licence and purchased his own aircraft, a Robinson R22.

His flying instructor Harry Knapp based at Bournemouth Airport would often describe the challenge to train Tom as a unique experience.

Tom’s health began to fade after the sudden death of his wife of 63 years, Pip, in 2013.

He took up canal boating and moved nearer to his brother and his estate in Pershore, Worcestershire.

He will be remembered as a huge character, always interested in everything around him, engaging in personality and dearly admired and loved by all who knew him.