BBC star Vernon Kay has shared some devastating news with his fans. Posting to his Instagram Stories, he shared a tribute to Dougie Shelley, one of the last World War Two veterans.

The military legend has died aged 100. He was a seaman gunner on the destroyer HMS Milne on D-Day and guarded troops going ashore during the Normandy landings in June 1944. Vernon shared a snap of the veteran, smiling, as it showed "1925 to 2026". The post, which was originally posted on BBC Essex shared that the Royal Naval Association said: "We are incredibly sad to hear that Dougie Shelley has crossed the bar. Fairwinds and following seas shipmate." Fans flooded the post with messages of condolences. One wrote: "Rest in peace one of many heroes of Britain."

Another said: "Rest in peace sir, thank you for your service and our freedom." While a third penned: "Rest in peace thank you for your service and what you fought for am grateful."

Dougie joined the Royal Navy at 17 and served in the Arctic convoys. After the war, Dougie worked on ships taking Ten Pound Poms to Australia. He later became a ­Ministry of Defence driver.

Elsewhere, Vernon recently stopped his BBC Radio 2 show to announce a colleague's "unexpected" death.

Last week, the 51-year-old had just concluded playing a song when he disclosed that Ian Deeley, the station's studio manager, had died unexpectedly at the age of 45.

Beginning the sorrowful announcement, he said: "As you can imagine at Radio 2, it's not just the names in the Radio Times who do all the work. We do very little, we just talk when we put up the fader, I'll be honest with you, myself and every on-air name included.

"It's the massive team behind Radio 2 that make this network so successful," he proceeded. "And the BBC family were devastated to hear that our brilliant studio manager, Ian Deeley, had died unexpectedly but peacefully at the age of 45.

"At his heart, Ian was a broadcaster, so whether he was driving the desk, engineering an outside broadcast, producing or presenting, Ian just loved radio with every fibre of his being."

"Even though he was a relatively young chap, Ian had a long and illustrious career, during which he pretty much worked on every BBC radio station," he added.