JUST weeks after celebrating his diamond wedding anniversary with wife Monica, former teacher John King has died in St Albans City Hospital.

Mr King, 85, of College Street, St Albans, marked 60 years of marriage with a celebration in a private room in Sopwell Ward at City Hospital where he had been a patient on and off since last summer.

The anniversary party was held on the same day as the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race which was re-run on their wedding day on Easter Monday 1951 after one of the boats had sunk on the previous Saturday.

Mr King died in the ward on April 20 and speaking on behalf of the family, one of the couple’s four children, Sue Riley, was full of praise for the care he received there.

Concerned that the NHS has been the subject of much criticism, Sue said all the staff deserved a medal: “Sopwell Ward and all the staff were angels and they made Dad’s last few months the best they could be. Frequently there is little recognition for their work but every single member of staff was superb; their work is long and hard and they always smiled.”