ONE of the south's best-loved news readers is to retire. Bruce Parker - the longest-serving BBC presenter in the country - will leave our screens at the end of the year.

The 61-year-old decided to stand down during the recent Tory party conference when he heard that BBC South is to revamp its political programming.

"It's a convenient time to hand over to someone else - a new face for a new programme," said Bruce, speaking from the South of France.

"It's 38 years since I started and 35 years with BBC South. I was probably going to go in six months' time anyway. I think it's time for me to say farewell.

"Nobody is indispensable."

Bruce Parker has been a major player at BBC South for decades.

He hosted the station's early evening news programme South Today single-handed between 1967 and 1979 before being joined by co-presenters such as Jenni Murray, Debbie Thrower and Sally Taylor.

Bruce also presented news programme Nationwide with Frank Bough, the first series of the Antiques Roadshow, Badger Watch and Radio 4's Woman's Hour during the 1960s and 70s.

When starting out, his arch-rival was then-ITV journalist Fred Dinenage, who now hosts Meridian Tonight.

"He was a fearsome reporter. He knew every trick in the book," recalled Fred.

Bruce was bitten by the political bug at an early age.

As a boy in the 1950s he would stand outside Number 10 Downing Street, watching the comings and goings.

In recent years he has been the station's political editor, spending much of his week in London working on South on Sunday.

He's interviewed every prime minister since Winston Churchill, his favourite being John Major.

This year has proved a turning point in Bruce's life.

On Valentine's Day he married second wife Suzanne at a romantic ceremony at Avington House, near Winchester.

The couple have since moved from the centre of Winchester to Appleshaw, near Andover. And the future?

"I would like to do some writing and see what comes up," said Bruce.