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Echo man Mike picks up his MBE from the Queen

The Northern Echo’s Mike Amos has been presented with the MBE by The Queen for his services to journalism in the North East.

The journalist has worked in the region all his life, beginning his career on the old Northern Despatch in Darlington in 1955.

He has worked for The Northern Echo for 41 years and his columns – Backtrack, Eating Owt, Gadfly, John North, and At Your Service – have gone on to represent every facet of the North East, its wonderful array of characters, idiosyncrasies and triumphs of human spirit.

Mike wrote afterwards: “It was a great occasion. It’s done wonderfully well with lots of pomp and ceremony and people in uniforms with all sorts of swankery.

“But when I received it seemed to me that the vast majority of people were a lot more deserving than I am – that’s not to say all of a sudden I’ve come over modest, but it is true.

“There were people there who have struggled on unpaid or broken down barriers or pioneered things and all of a sudden there’s this raggy-arsed lad from Shildon and services to journalism in the North East.”

Mike’s notebook is never closed.

He said: “It’s about not just writing about things which land on my desk but about going out and finding the real flavour of the North East and getting the spirit of the North East as people know or love it.”

Amusing mistakes are often highlighted in his ‘Gadfly’ column – and even Echo journalists are not safe from Mike’s dedicated army of eagle-eyed readers, who write in to tip him off about errors or other tit-bits.

“There’s some incredibly loyal readers. It still depends on them to write and respond and feel part of it,” says Mike.

Echo editor Peter Barron said: “It is a fitting tribute to someone whose contribution to the paper has been immense. It is hard to imagine The Northern Echo without Mike Amos.”

Mike has won the North East Journalist of the Year title a record seven times and last year won a lifetime achievement award in the North East Press Awards.