But he became one himself last week when he was an OBE in the New Year Honours List.

"It was all a bit of a shock, but very moving," said Mr Garner.

"It is the sort of thing that, in a way, is priceless.

"Books can win prizes but when something like this is done it is saying that the country is better off for having you in it."

Mr Garner, 66, who says he has never had a 'proper job', has spent the past 40 years writing books on the legends of The Hough, an area of Alderley Edge where he was brought up.

And his books, although written for all age groups, have been particularly embraced by children - so much so that his OBE is for services to children's literature.

But he admits that his own five children, who have now left the family home in Blackden, Goostrey, were too frightened to ever read them.

"But the family have been remarkably well-pleased considering they spend most of their time trying to bring me down to earth," he said.