Niall Horan led the tributes to BBC presenter Colin Bloomfield, who passed away on Saturday morning at the age of 33. Colin, who worked on BBC Radio Derby for ten years, died as the result of a 14-year battle with skin cancer at a hospice near his home town of Shrewsbury. "Sad to hear to hear of the passing of Colin Bloomfield today," wrote Niall on Twitter. "He was a super great guy, great commentator and had a huge passion for Derby County, he will be sadly missed around the ground, condolences to his family and friends."
One Direction's Niall Horan led tributes to the BBC Radio Derby presenter
Football fan Niall later added a photo of himself with Colin on Instagram with the caption: "#RIPcolinbloomfield, you'll be missed at Derby mate!"Radio Derby's editor Simon Cornes also paid tribute to his much-love colleague. "Reporter, producer, commentator, presenter – Colin was all of those," he said. "You're lucky in radio if you're good at one of these things but Colin's talent was a rare one and he was extraordinarily accomplished at all of them. He made it seem easy. We know it isn't.
Colin with former I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here star Jack Quickenden
"If you were designing the perfect colleague you'd come up with Colin. His modesty was disarming but it was his warmth and his positive attitude to life that made him so popular with everyone at Radio Derby. We've lost our friend but it's a mark of the man that so many of our listeners feel they've lost their friend too. All of us are going to miss him dreadfully. "Colin was open about his ongoing battle with cancer and on 10 April he announced on Twitter that he had been admitted to a hospice. "A massive thanks to everyone for their kind words," he wrote. "Was admitted to a hospice in Shrewsbury in midweek, hopefully to make things comfortable.
Colin (centre) with Neighbours stars Jackie Woodburne and Alan Fletcher
"The brain scan last showed the tumours are getting worse and from here on in it's making me as strong as possible to cope with any new drug. "Colin was first diagnosed with the disease in 2001 when a cancerous mole turned out to be a malignant melanoma. In 2006 he was given the all-clear but seven years later, in May 2013, he discovered a lump on his groin. Since then Colin had been undergoing various treatments which initially helped shrink some of the tumours in his brains and lungs.