“I had one of those lightbulb moments,” he says. “I was staring at our RNLI tea towel, one of the famous ones with a map of all the lifeboat stations, and it just dawned on me whether anyone had been to all these stations to make a photographic journal, a modern snapshot of the RNLI family.”

“It was alright, was that,” the indomitable and still irascible 91-year-old tells when reminded about the landmark. “I think I had a big bet. Never ever drank so much Champagne in my life.”

John Lewis Partnership confirmed the closure of eight of its stores on Wednesday, including its Sheffield firm which was first established in 1847 as Cole Brothers. John Lewis York is also set to close.

Five industrial buildings providing a total 180,000 sq ft at Moor Park 25 in Mirfield, West Yorkshire, will be built by the third quarter of this year.

High Street stores up and down the country were already facing plenty of challenges before the pandemic hit – but the impact of Covid and lockdown measures has seen online purchases rocket and thousands of physical shops decide to call it a day.

The café on Stonegate in the centre of York will not re-open after the branch has been deemed to be no longer financially viable.

Mini has confirmed that it will become an all-electric brand by the early 2030s after announcing that its final combustion-engined car will be launched in 2025.

Here are some jobs you can be getting on with if the weather stays kind…Mulch bare soil in beds and borders, prune bush and shrub roses.

Roger Hutton, the firm’s joint managing partner, said that the relocation of major brands such as Channel 4 to Leeds would help the region’s recovery as the financial pressures caused by lockdown start to ease. Clarion said it had delivered a solid financial performance with revenues reaching £19.6m for the year ending May 31, 2020.

One of two specialist horse racing training centres of excellence in the UK (the other being Newmarket), it will now be owned by Harry Hogarth who, based out of Stillington, North Yorkshire, has trained racehorses for the best part of 20 years following a career in financial services with the Prudential.