THE internationally acclaimed naval architect who rose from humble beginnings in Glasgow to design the Queen Mary, the Queen Elizabeth and the royal yacht Britannia, has died, aged 99.

Sir John Brown was knighted in the New Year's honours list last year "for services to ship design and Clyde shipbuilding in the twentieth century", at a ceremony moved to Glasgow because he was too frail to attend Buckingham Palace.

After being invested with the Insignia of a Knight Bachelor by the Princess Royal, Sir John said: "I am very flattered and overwhelmed by this honour, one which I didn't expect. I have had a very enjoyable life and enjoyed all my working days. It is nice to be recognised like this at the end of it all. I am a very lucky man."

David McVicar, a nephew of Sir John, said yesterday: "He didn't like a lot of fuss and bother. His death signals the end of an era.

We believe he was the only surviving member of the team which designed the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth in the 1930s, which were built at John Brown's Shipbuilders in Clydebank."

Sir John joined the yard - the owning name of which belonged to a Sheffield steelmaker - as an apprentice in 1919. His remarkable talent quickly shone and he rose through the ranks, becoming head of the design team at the age of 28, before going on to become managing director. It was during this tenure the contract to build the QE2 in the 1960s was secured.

Sir Robert Easton, former chairman and managing director of the Yarrow Shipbuilders warship yard at Scotstoun on the Clyde, who was a close shipbuilding associate of Sir John, said yesterday: "John was recognised by all his fellows in the UK and beyond as being the grand old man of naval architecture. I think they will all salute him.

"During the Second World War the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth must have transported hundreds of thousands of troops to battle zones all over the world. Winston Churchill said these ships reduced the length of the war by at least a year."

A full obituary will appear in The Herald tomorrow.

- Dec 29