The MBE came in the year that Bob celebrated 50 years in journalism, having started as a cub reporter at the tender age of 15 on the Tunbridge Wells Advertiser.
Commenting on his MBE, Bob said: “I am absolutely delighted. I have been a journalist, and proud of it, for fifty years and my first job, as a 15-year-old with the Tunbridge Wells Advertiser, was covering street parties held to mark the Queen’s Coronation.”