Queen's Birthday Honours: Paul Holmes

By BRIDGET CARTER

Paul Holmes says one of the nicest parts of being named in the Queen's Birthday Honours was telling his mother.

The news made her burst into tears.

"I have made her proud. That is the best thing of all."

Holmes, a leading television and radio personality, has been made a companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to broadcasting and the community.

"I have had a long career, a successful career ... Nothing feels as good as this."

Since learning of the honour last week, messages of congratulation and bunches of flowers have swept into his home from family, friends and colleagues. One came from his boss, TNVZ chief executive Ian Fraser.

Holmes celebrated the occasion on Saturday night with a quiet family dinner on his Hawkes Bay farm.

He says he started out as a broadcaster as a way to collect money for an acting career, but just adored radio and was unable to leave it alone.

More than 30 years later, his Newstalk ZB morning radio show and the Holmes television show, which he fronts on weeknights, are among the most popular on the air.

He does not pontificate grandly about journalism, he says, but has high standards.

"Sometimes with a lighter touch, you can reveal more than with a 3000-word essay."

It is the years and years that his programmes have kept going, he says, that gives him such satisfaction.

There have been times of struggle, but Holmes says he "quite likes struggling from behind a bit" and keeps signing the contracts, which means he has to keep turning up.

The popular broadcaster, who celebrates the ordinary New Zealander, says he has also worked extremely hard to turn the spotlight on people with disabilities.

Part of his award is for his work with the Paraplegic and Physically Disabled Federation, including fundraising and being the Chef de Mission for the New Zealand Paralympic Team at the 2000 Paralympics in Sydney.

"I love people with disabilities," he says. "They know about struggle too and they know about achievement."

Messages of congratulations have poured in since the news broke.