Former theatre critic of the Standard dies

Lynda Murdin, a long-standing reporter for the Evening Standard, has died aged 61.

She worked on the paper during the Seventies and Eighties under the editorships of Charles Wintour and Simon Jenkins. In that time, she covered the trial of Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe before becoming the Standard's theatre critic.

She was also the royal reporter. In the Nineties, Miss Murdin returned to her native East Yorkshire to care for her parents. She continued to write for the Daily Telegraph, The Times and Yorkshire Post.

Miss Murdin was taken ill with ovarian cancer in December.