As the Daily Echo marks the 120th anniversary of the newspaper's foundation there is one person who will always figure large in any nostalgic look back over the decades of publication.

For more than 30 years the late Gordon Sewell was considered one of the south's most influential minds with his leader columns, the books he wrote and his in-depth knowledge of the area's history, all combined with a fine writing skill that brought him national recognition.

When I joined the Daily Echo in 1968 he was the newspaper's most senior journalist and now, even 40 years later, in my mind he is still "Mr Sewell'' as nobody would ever dream of calling him Gordon.

In December 1946, the nation's former wartime leader, Winston Churchill praised his leader published in the Daily Echo on September 20 of that year on the future of Europe. Soon after the article appeared Mr Churchill telephoned the editor, saying he intended to give it wider publicity as part of a speech he was to make.

After a brief time in Fleet Street Mr Sewell returned to his native Southampton, a city he always cared so passionately about, and continued his career until he retired in 1973, five years before his death.

It was in 1958 that Mr Sewell published an essay in which he warned of what would happen to Southampton in future years if planners were not careful and took local history into account.

He wrote: "Southampton certainly continues to grow in size and economic importance. The great task of the authorities, it is clear, is to ensure that this development conserves and extends those natural amenities and beauties which have made the town one of the most attractive in southern England.

"A perpetual vigilance is needed to ward off the untidy tanglements that seem to go with industrial expansion.'' Mr Sewell also considered the way in which the local authority tackled the enormous undertaking of rebuilding bomb-damaged Southampton at the end of the Second World War.

"Few towns in Britain faced such formidable tasks as did Southamp-ton when peace came in in 1945. Priority of course was given to the housing of the people. During the war about 60,000 of the inhabitants had left the town.

"As they began to return, the shortage of dwellings became heart-breaking as war damage repairs continued and hundreds of pre-fabricated houses were constructed.'' In the essay Mr Sewell also looked further back to the beginning of the 20th century when Southampton was known for elegant streets and imposing houses.

"Georgian, Regency and Victorian shop fronts his premises in the High Street while Above the Bar, Portland Street and Cumberland Place the well-to-do lived in their town houses. The beginning of the Common marked the end of the urban area, Winn and Westwood Roads representing the latest building developments.