In the course of his working life, he shook hands with Nelson Mandela, brushed shoulders with Frank Sinatra and interviewed Royalty and Presidents.

Regular readers of insidethegames will know Alan was a boxing man through and through, as he chronicled the golden era of the sport when Muhammad Ali "shook up the world".

Alan was there in 1974 at ringside in Kinshasa Zaire, for the "Rumble in the Jungle" when Ali defeated George Foreman for the world heavyweight title in an astonishing contest.

First hand experiences of this kind ensured that Alan's fund of stories on the fight game were always fascinating, compelling and authoritative.

His career had begun in the 1950s in South London as a young writer, invariably known as a "cub reporter" with the Balham and Tooting News & Mercury, where he conducted his first major interview with well known comedian Tommy Trinder who was appearing locally in a Christmas pantomime and also happened to be chairman of Fulham Football Club at the time.

By the mid-1960s, Alan had become a regular contributor to World Sports magazine.

In the early 1970s, the magazine relaunched as Sportsworld and Alan became its editor.

He also conducted a column known inevitably perhaps as "Hubbard's Cupboard".

Like many in the decade, the writers on the magazine wore their hair fashionably long and Alan was no exception.

When the Queen’s daughter Princess Anne became a contender for Britain’s eventing team at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Alan travelled to her home at Sandhurst to secure an exclusive interview.

He spoke to the Princess and her then husband Captain Mark Phillips, himself an eventing team gold medallist in 1972.

"We found Princess Anne and Captain Phillips deeply interested in all aspects of sport," Alan wrote after the encounter.

His horizons also stretched to the far east where he spent three years as deputy editor of The Straits Times in Singapore.

Alan travelled the world to the Olympic Games on 16 occasions and also covered 10 Commonwealth Games and reported from the FIFA World Cup.

He would often talk about his experiences at the Moscow 1980 Olympics and in particular how the telephone in his hotel room had been bugged during the Games.

Alan was named Olympic Journalist of the Year in 1992 after Barcelona but the Atlanta Games which followed in 1996 proved to be one of very few big events that he did not attend in person because he had by then become sports editor of The Observer.

He carried the Olympic Torch in 2004 when it came to London as part of its journey to Athens.

Appropriately perhaps, he passed the Flame to a legendary sporting figure after his own leg of the relay. 

The recipient was England cricket giant Ian Botham.

Alan had also been sports editor for The Mail on Sunday.

Later, he returned to writing columns for The Independent on Sunday and the London Evening Standard and was chosen as sports diarist of the year by the Sports Journalists Association (SJA) in 2004 and 2006.

"This is terribly sad news," insidethegames editor Duncan Mackay said. 

"Alan had been ill for a while, but continued to file his weekly blog right up until a few weeks ago.

"Alan gave me my first job in national newspapers and I wouldn't have achieved what I have without his help and guidance.

"He was a great supporter of insidethegames and an important part of our success."

"It has been a fascinating journey, a helter-skelter of a ride through this sporting life," Hubbard told the SJA a few years ago.

Appropriately perhaps, his travels came to an end in his hometown at the London 2012 Games when he celebrated his "retirement" from the "Olympic beat" with fellow writers Neil Wilson and John Goodbody, by raising a glass with London 2012 supremo Sebastian Coe.

Thankfully, it did not spell the end of his time observing and commenting on sport as he contributed a regular column which was always keenly awaited.