WE catch up with the 'Godfather of columnists' - as he has been described more than once by various judges and such like - in a hotel, the presentation of his MBE fresh in the mind.

"It was a great occasion," says our own Mike Amos, who yesterday received the honour for his services to journalism in the North-East from the Queen.

"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, 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 raggyarsed lad from Shildon and services to journalism in the North-East."

It's the North-East bit in particular which is important to Mike. He has worked in the region all his life, beginning his career on the old Evening Despatch in Darlington. He's worked for The Northern Echo for 41 years. His columns for The Northern Echo - Backtrack, Eating Owt, Gadfly, John North, 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. His notebook is never closed. New journalists, or young 'uns, as he would perhaps call 'em, could learn a thing or three from him.

"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," he says.

Amusing mistakes are often highlighted in his Gadfly column in particular - 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. This journalist is certainly feeling the pressure, but Mike has reassuring words should she get anything wrong.

"I'll screw you rotten if you pardon the phrase," he says, laughing like a drain.

But it is the readers whom he must thank for the material in his columns, which has been made much easier by the popularity of email.

"There's some incredibly loyal readers. It still depends on them to write and respond and feel part of it."

Eating Owt is the hardest to write sometimes - 1,000 words per review on what is, most of the time, middle of the road eating establishments.

"There are very few exceptionally bad places and very few exceptionally good," he says.

Eating Owt also takes him away from the family and the home in Middleton Tyas, Richmond. But The Boss and the Bairns - now fully grown and one a journalist at the Echo - are often roped in. Eating Owt wouldn't be the same without the Bairns' jokes after all.

At Your Service is his favourite column. It gives him a blank space every week which he fills with people who love their churches and care about the communities around them. For many, it is the first time they have been in the paper, but it makes extraordinary copy out of ordinary lives - which is the key to much of Mike's work. He's 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. This summer, he was named in industry magazine Press Gazette's list of leading media figures in their Hall of Fame.

During the years, he's been described as a legend. Occasionally, as a miserable s*d.

"I've been called worse things," he says.

Regal or raggyarsed, there is no doubting he is ever dedicated, his jolly jaunt to London ending as soon as he boards the train home at King's Cross.

"Such is the way of things I'll be writing my column on the train on the way back," he says. "Don't worry, you can have it in the morning."