A minute's applause will be held at Gillingham FC in memory of lifelong fan Sir David Frost.

The veteran broadcaster and journalist, who grew up in the Medway Towns, died on Saturday, aged 74.

He suffered a heart attack while on board a cruise ship.

A family statement given to the BBC said he had been giving a speech aboard the Queen Elizabeth.

It read: "His family are devastated and ask for privacy at this difficult time.

"A family funeral will be held in the near future and details of a memorial service will be announced in due course."

The journalist, who was born in Tenterden but grew up in Gillingham, was a pupil at Barnsole Primary School and the former Gillingham Grammar School, now Robert Napier.

His career spanned journalism, comedy writing and daytime television presenting, including The Frost Report.

Internationally, he will be remembered for his revealing interviews with former US President Richard Nixon.

His dramatic interviews with disgraced president Richard Nixon became the subject of a movie Frost/Nixon.

Frost is the only person to have interviewed all six British prime ministers serving between 1964 and 2007 and the seven US presidents in office since 1969.

Gillingham chairman Paul Scally said: "I met him two or three times at different events round the country. He was always very humble, very interesting and always interested in what was happening at the football club.

"I think we’ll do a minute’s silence in honour of his memory or a minute of applause at our game tomorrow evening.

"Probably a lot of people won’t realise he was a Gillingham fan, but I think irrespective of his football tendencies, people will always remember his as a fine broadcaster and one of the greats in British broadcasting."

Prime Minister David Cameron paid tribute to Sir David in a tweet. He wrote: “My heart goes out to David Frost's family. He could be - and certainly was with me - both a friend and a fearsome interviewer.”

Rehman Chishti, MP for Rainham and Gillingham, who met Sir David on a number of occasions and even got him to back a run to raise money for St Margaret’s Church in Rainham, described him as a “great ambassador" for Gillingham.

He added: “He was very fond of his memories of the town.

“He was a great ambassador for Gillingham and one of the best TV broadcast journalists the world has seen. He was a great man and he will always be remembered. My thoughts go out to his family.”

Sir David was last in Medway in 2008 when he was given an honorary degree by the University of Kent at Rochester Cathedral.

Tim Luckhurst, professor of journalism at the University of Kent at Medway, met Sir David that day.

He said: “He had graduates and staff amused throughout [his speech], but he also revealed just how genuinely fond he was of the Medway Towns.”

More tributes in the Medway Messenger today (Monday).

• Did you go to school with Sir David? Contact the newsroom on 01634 227803.