FOR 17 years, I’ve wanted to publish this little anecdote about the Duke of Edinburgh but I’ve always been warned against it.

But, in light of the long list of gaffes doing the rounds since Prince Philip announced his retirement, I’ve decided now’s the time to throw caution to the wind.

Let’s at least start by acknowledging the admirable support the Duke has given to the Queen, along with the fact that he’s a colourful character. At 95, he deserves a break from the glare of the limelight.

That said, his retirement has largely been viewed as a glorious opportunity to recall some of his less diplomatic public pronouncements over the years.

One hitherto unpublicised example came in 2000 when I met the Queen and the Duke in London, along with other regional editors, at a lunchtime function arranged by the Press Association. We were divided up into “regions” with badges denoting which part of the country we were from. I was part of a gaggle of editors with “North-East” on their badges.

The Queen had a little chat and Prince Philip followed behind, hands typically clasped behind his back. He leaned forward to peer at our badges and declared: “The North-East? You want to stop letting the bloody Japs take all your jobs!”

Before we could protest, he was on his way to engage with the editors of Yorkshire.

Back at the Echo offices that night, I took a call from the head of the Press Association: “I understand you had a rather colourful conversation with the Duke. Er, you won’t be publishing it, will you?” he said.

To be fair, I did allow 17 years to pass before allowing my journalistic instincts to override protocol.

And, with all due respect to the retiring Duke, we’re still very grateful in the North-East for the jobs created by the likes of Nissan and Hitachi.

WITH the dust settling on the election of Conservative candidate Ben Houchen as Tees Valley Mayor, I happened to be thumbing through a booklet which had been shoved through the door.

Entitled “Your Guide To The Candidates, The Election And How To Vote”, I probably should have read it before the votes were counted.

It was all about what the Mayor will do to help the Tees Valley under various headings, including “Supporting businesses to help them grow.”

How surprising then to turn to the back page to see that the booklet was printed in Huddersfield, way beyond the Tees Valley boundary.

The publisher was David Bond, returning officer for the Tees Valley Combined Authority, based at Stockton Borough Council, so I asked for an explanation.

This is the reply: “The Tees Valley Combined Authority Mayoral election leaflet was part of a wider elections printing contract for specialist election products agreed last year on behalf of all of the North-East councils through the North East Procurement Organisation (NEPO). In other words, they weren’t specifically appointed for this particular election. The contract was awarded following an open tender process and no Tees Valley based printers tendered for the contract. The successful firm was actually the closest experienced provider (geographically speaking).”

What a shame. Perhaps the new Mayor can see if anything more can be done locally to flag up these lucrative business opportunities – or to encourage the printing companies of the Tees Valley to be a bit sharper.

ARE you, like me, one of the 10 per cent of the population who puts off going to the dentist for as long as possible? Well, thank your lucky stars you’re not a horse...

Stuart Huggan earns his living as an equine dentist and I met him last week when I visited Ann Duffield’s stunning racing stables in Constable Burton, Wensleydale.

Stuart, of Hawick, travels round the country, sorting out horses’ teeth – removing sharp edges and extracting those that need to come out.

Customers include champion jumps trainer Nicky Henderson and leading Irish trainers Gordon Elliott and Dermot Weld.

Over the past year, horses to have had their teeth done by Stuart include equine stars such as 2016 Derby winner Harzand, Gold Cup victor Don Cossack, Champion Hurdler Buveur D’Air and former Grand National hero Many Clouds.

You wouldn’t have believed the noise Stuart’s file made as he rasped away at the choppers of a two-year-old filly called Clifftop Dancer, pictured below.

Indeed, Stuart has a fearsome array of tools that would make anyone due to sit in the dentist’s chair jump higher than Desert Orchid.

The Northern Echo:

FROM dentists to doctors and the age-old problem of their unreadable handwriting.

I’d been given a prescription for some antibiotics and took it along to the pharmacy in Sainsbury’s in Darlington.

“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but can I ask if you’re named after the footballer?” asked the woman serving behind the counter.

I racked my brains, trying to imagine who she thought I might be named after: Peter Crouch? Peter Schmeichel? Peter Beardsley? Peter Shilton? Peter Osgood? Peter Bonetti?

She interrupted my pondering by adding: “It’s such an unusual name, isn’t it...Pele.”

She looked terribly disappointed when I explained that my doctor had failed to cross the ‘t’ in “Pete”.