Legendary football journalist Reg Drury was killed in Finchley after being hit by a car.

Mr Drury, 74, who lived in Lyndhurst Gardens for 47 years, was a well-respected reporter for the News of the World for more than 30 years before retiring ten years ago.

Mr Drury was trying to cross Regents Park Road, near Spencer Close, at around 12.20pm on Thursday when he was hit by a Mercedes heading southbound. He is believed to have died instantly from head injuries.

He leaves a widow, Cepta, three children and seven grandchildren.

"I have known him for most of my working life," said his friend Denis Signy, a former editor of the Hendon & Finchley Times. "We drank together once a week and talked to each other most days. He'd been a football writer all of his life. He was a family man, he was top of the class as a football writer [and] highly respected. He was a legend of Fleet Street. If he wrote it, it would be proved right."

Mr Drury started work at the now-defunct Sports Gazette at the tender age of 14. He wrote match reports of Tottenham Hotspur for the Enfield Gazette under the pseudonym 'The Watcher', before joining the also defunct co-operative paper Reynolds News. He joined the News of the World in 1964.

Among the stories he exclusively broke were West Ham United manager Ron Greenwood transfer-listing England hero Bobby Moore, and Tony Adams being made Arsenal captain at the expense of Kenny Sansom.

When he retired, the News of the World held a reception for him at the House of Commons, which was attended by a host of top football managers, who counted themselves as his friend.

Peter Shreeves, the former Barnet manager got to know Mr Drury when he was in charge of Tottenham in the 1980s. He said: "He was a big, big friend. I got to know him really quite closely.

"I was devastated when I got the call yesterday. We used to meet up with him on a monthly basis and we'd chew over the fat. You could phone him and tell him the story off the record. Never once did he betray the trust of any manager. He was very, very much respected in the football business. He will be greatly missed by the football community."

Mr Drury was once the chairman of the Football Writers' Association and had written a book with legendary Arsenal goalkeeper Pat Jennings.

An inquest into Mr Drury's death was opened and adjourned on Monday. Police are urging any witnesses to the accident to call them on 020 8246 9850. Mr Drury's funeral will be held at Hendon Cemetery in Holders Hill Road, Hendon, at 10.45am on Monday.