But on one ill-fated trip, he discovered a new application for his favourite newspaper.
The retired geologist, 71, had taken a walk to Fairlight Glen in East Sussex to study a landslide on the evening of 24 April. After taking a wrong turn, he became stranded in the dark on the face of a cliff prone to erosion.
He had no battery on his mobile phone but opted to wait for emergency services rather than risk clambering on unstable cliffs.
The temperature was dropping, so he gingerly wrapped himself in the newspaper to keep warm. "I put it over my legs, they were the coldest thing because I only had my overalls on," he said. "If I didn't have the Guardian, I would have been shivering."
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