Songwriter Eric Boswell died aged 88 on 29 November, 2009 - the year of the 50th anniversary of his most famous song Little Donkey .

The success of the tune - which is sung at carol concerts and Christmas gatherings across the world every year - made him financially secure, yet many people assume it is a traditional song that's existed for years.

Mr Boswell said that he wrote it because he wanted to “write a simple song for children to sing”.

But he could never have expected it to become such a major hit which shared the music charts of 1959 with the hits of Elvis Presley and Cliff Richard. In November of that year it was a hit for both Gracie Fields and the Beverley Sisters.

Mr Boswell's death came just a week before a special 50th anniversary recording of Little Donkey was released - a posthumous duet between Gracie Fields - who died in 1979 - and north-east-based opera singer Graeme Danby.

Mr Danby told the Sunderland Echo that he met Mr Boswell in the late 1990s and the pair worked to produce a large number of songs, including the album Graeme Danby sings Eric Boswell.

"Over the past 10 to 15 years nearly every single thing he composed was for me and it's wonderful to be able to have that kind of relationship with somebody," he said.

"He was a great song-writer. I would put him up there with the best."

Mr Boswell was born in Sunderland and started music lessons when he was seven - showing great talent. But his family could not afford to send him to a music school so he studied with a local church organist and choirmaster instead.

He moved to London to pursue his music career and wrote songs for Matt Monro in the 1960s before returning to the north east where he also earned fame writing comic songs in Geordie dialect.

He had three sons, Ian, David and Tony.

Sunderland Echo theatre critic Marj Barton said he was "good inside and out" and a great supporter of young and amateur performers.