Watching the trial of Michael Jackson's doctor reminded Harry Shaw of his days as a friend of the stars. Chris Webber met the father-of-13, who was a postman by day and London mayor by night HE may have been a humble forklift truck driver and postman, but North-Easterner Harry Shaw went on to be mayor of three districts of London, three-times blessed at St Paul's Cathedral.

In his time, the 83-year-old father-of-13, grandfather-of-61 and great-grandfather-of-44, met Princess Diana, Neil Armstrong, Bobby Charlton, The Queen and Michael Jackson.

Watching the news about the trial of Michael Jackson's doctor prompted Mr Shaw, who lives in Park End in his native Middlesbrough, to remember the times he met the famous pop star.

He said he was first deputy mayor of Hackney in 1989 and went on to be joint mayor of Hackney, Shoreditch and Stoke Newington in the Nineties.

He was blessed three times at St Paul's for representing the three boroughs, visited Paris, Moscow, Cologne and Istanbul and went into Buckingham Palace in his role.

"You got treated as a Lord Mayor and they used to call me the modern Dick Whittington, " said Mr Shaw, of Berwick Hills, Middlesbrough, who worked at Dorman Long engineering before moving to London after being laid off in the early Seventies.

Talking about Michael Jackson, he said: "He was a nice fella. He was there to meet the seriously ill children on the children's ward of the Queen Elizabeth hospital, but it was all too much for him and he had to leave, saying 'I can't stand it Mr Mayor'.

"I remember we had a laugh when I pointed at my chains, made from Welsh gold in the 18th Century, and I said 'I couldn't give you this for £1m, ' and he just said, '£1m, that's no problem'.

"Later that day he called up and gave me ten tickets for his big show."

Mr Shaw's favourite star was Princess Diana. He said: "You know when you're a kid and you see Cinderella; it was like that made real.

"I met her eight times. She was visiting the hospitals and hospices so often she called me 'her second husband' once.

"The time that sticks in my mind was the morning after there were big stories about her splitting up with Prince Charles on the news.

"I remember I pulled out a bar of chocolate from my pocket and said, 'do you fancy a bit, ' and she just burst out laughing, though there were tears in her eyes."

These days Mr Shaw, who was widowed in the Fifties with a two-year-old daughter and two-month-old son, is a chairman of a community bowls club for disabled people.