A MORROCCAN military coup and an earthquake in Istanbul are among the many adventures the Ridleys have weathered during their 50-year marriage.

Peter Ridley, a former Darlington and Stockton Times editor, and his wife Margaret first met at a dance in Sussex in 1962 and married on March 30 the following year.

They moved to the North East shortly after their wedding and Mr Ridley took a reporting job with the then Northern Despatch newspaper before moving to its sister title The Northern Echo.

He worked his way through the ranks to become news editor at the Echo before being appointed editor of its stablemate the Darlington and Stockton Times in September 1981.

Meanwhile Mrs Ridley worked as a nurse, first at Darlington Memorial Hospital, then in Barnard Castle and Stanton Hall nursing home on Trinity Road in Darlington.

The couple, who live in Hummersknott and have two daughters and three grandchildren, are keen caravanners and Mr Ridley even managed to write front page stories for The Northern Echo when he took sabbaticals from work.

He said: “In 1967 we took six months off work and travelled by caravan to Bulgaria and Eastern Europe.

“Four years later we went southwards through Europe and down to North Africa.

“I would send regular reports to the Echo, and one time we were caught up in an earthquake in Istanbul and that was the front page lead for the Echo the next day.

“Most of the articles were our own view about places we were visiting, but we were also in Morocco when there was a military coup, and that was another front page lead I sent to the Echo at the time.”

Mr Ridley also covered many high profile stories throughout his career including the Profumo affair and the great train robbery of 1963.

The Ridleys celebrated their golden wedding anniversary with a trip to Lake Como in Italy, followed by a family lunch in the Lake District on Saturday.