Peter made a name for himself with a whimsical column, which started life as a space filler in the Saturday edition of the daily Sheffield Telegraph and continued beyond his retirement from The Star until not long before his death.

Editor of The Star, Alan Powell said: "Peter's column will be sadly missed. The columns began as a means of filling a hole, and ended leaving a hole which simply cannot be filled. They were unique."

The Harvey column brought Peter fan mail from across the globe, which he would invariably answer in person, even in retirement. Its fame even reached Buckingham Palace.

See Saturday's Star for more tributes and pictures of his life in journalism.

When Peter went to the Palace in 2002 to receive the MBE for services to journalism and the community from the Queen he was surprised to be approached by a Beefeater in full regalia who said he had deliberately sought him out.

It turned out the Beefeater had a Sheffield connection, regularly read the Harvey column, and wanted to tell him how much he enjoyed it.

While most people knew him because of his column, Peter Harvey already had a distinguished career before his column began being published.

He joined the Sheffield Telegraph from Woodhouse Grammar School as a trainee reporter in 1951, starting out on what was then the nightly ritual of touring the city's fire, ambulance and police stations, hospitals and mortuary on foot to pick up items of news.


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