Regional journalist Peter Harvey is being rewarded for more than 50 years in the industry with an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Peter, (67), is a columnist for the Sheffield Star and a well-known local historian.

Peter Harvey

He said he was thrilled to be an award-winner after years of interviewing people who had themselves been named in the honours lists.

He said: “When the letter came from the Prime Minister’s office asking if I would be prepared to accept I was astounded, then later very pleased.

“I’ve never thought of myself as an award
-winner.”

Cub reporter

The MBE is listed as being for services to journalism and the local community.

In addition to writing a humorous column for the Star and its predecessors over the last 30 years, he has also embarked on extensive genealogy research at Sheffield Central Library and has published 10 books on local history, the most recent being a well-researched look into the history of Sheffield street names.

Peter’s career in journalism began in 1951 at the Sheffield Telegraph, which later became the Morning Telegraph.

When that closed in 1985 he moved to the Star, from where he took early retirement seven years ago but retained his column, which now appears once a week. It has now been running for 30 years.

He said: “You get the odd response from people who don’t like what you say, but you generally get very good feedback from the readership.

“At first the column was weekly then it moved to six times a week. Then it reduced to four times a week then at the Star it went down again to three times a week.

“I started writing it because the editor at the time was looking for six columns and was presented with five sensible ones. He asked me if I would do a comic one – and I agreed.”

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