A FORMER high-ranking United Nations official has taken on a new role as a wine consultant for a west Wiltshire village store.

The shop at Steeple Ashton, which opened last September, now has a licence to sell wines and spirits and has enlisted Declan Walton, 75, as its resident wine buff. Mr Walton, who lives in the village, was the deputy director general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation and the first Irishman to join the UN Secretariat after Ireland was admitted to the organisation in 1955.

He worked for the UN for more than 30 years and throughout his various overseas postings he cultivated a lifelong interest in fine wines and visiting vineyards. "Everyone in the village is involved with the shop, and one of the leading organisers approached me to make some choices for a seasonal white and red that the shop can stock," he said.

"I have over half a century of enjoying fine wines because it has been a hobby of mine since I was in my 20s." Mr Walton's task will be to select a bottle of red and a bottle of white for each quarter of the year, with the wines going on sale in the shop for the first time today.

The wines being stocked as Declan's spring choice' are a Macon-Villages 2004 and a non-vintage Italian red called Il Papavero. Dawn Galey, shop manager, said: "Our emphasis is going to be on quality. We won't be the cheapest, but we will offer good wines at a value price, usually in the £5-£8 range."

During his long career with the United Nations Mr Walton was at the centre of a number of some of the decisive moments of the 20th century. His daughter was born while he was in a Royal audience. He said: "I was in Morocco for three years during the Algerian War of Independence (during the late 1950s), working with refugees. "My daughter was actually born while I was in Rabat in an audience with the King of Morocco."

In various UN roles he lived and worked in Geneva, New York and Rome, and had a great deal of contact with leading officials from the many member states of the United Nations.

Since retiring he has spent a lot of time on his hobby, and is involved with the Jeroboam Club of wine aficionados in Bristol.

The Steeple Ashton village shop, in the High Street, is owned and run by the people of the village. It is staffed by volunteers, including former Pan's People dancer Dee Dee Wilde.