A ‘BLUE plaque’ dedicated to WR ‘Bill’ Mitchell MBE is due to be unveiled at his old school, Skipton Parish Church Primary School, Brougham Street next month.

The unveiling of the Yorkshire Society plaque, in honour of the former editor of The Dalesman, who started his career at The Craven Herald, will be carried out by BBC political correspondent, and Dales born, Chris Mason, whose parents met and both taught at the school.

The nomination came from Mr Mitchell’s son, David Mitchell, whose reasons were found ‘compelling’ by Yorkshire Society members.

David Mitchell wrote: “My father dedicated himself to writing about Yorkshire for over 60 years. He was editor of the Dalesman for 20 years and wrote over 200 books as well as hundreds of articles.

“He delivered innumerable talks and conducted countless interviews with Yorkshire characters. Many are contained in the WR Mitchell Archive, available online.

“Yorkshire Television marked his retirement with a programme about his life, narrated by Alan Bennett. He received an MBE in 1996 and was made an honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Bradford.

“He was the first patron of the Yorkshire Dales Society, and in September, 2009, he was voted ‘Greatest Living Icon’ for the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

“In April 2014 he was voted 33 in a poll to find the 75 Greatest Icons of Yorkshire. There cannot be many parts of our great county that haven’t been touched by his magical presence, and my sister and I are very proud of him.”

WR Mitchell attended Parish Church School, where he was inspired to write and first became aware of The Dalesman magazine. All are invited to the ceremony, which will take place at 2.30pm on Friday, December 7.