Sir Harry Evans' visit to The Northern Echo was an inspiration.
It was fascinating to listen to him talk about his memories of his time in Darlington, when he edited the paper in the 1960s.
It was also wondeful to see the passion light up in his eyes when we talked about the value of campaigns.
Yesterday, he appeared on the Andre Marr Show on the BBC and made some very generous comments about The Northern Echo.
Asked by Marr about whether the days of good provincial newspapers, with investigative staff, were over, Sir Harry replied: "The Northern Echo is better today than when I edited it."
It was a very kind thing to say. The truth, of course, is that Harry Evans remains the figure all editors of The Northern Echo must look up to.
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