MacGregor's life behind the mike

Sue MacGregor said she was "surprised and delighted" by her CBE but that she owed it to her colleagues.

The veteran broadcaster retired from Today at the end of February after 18 years with the respected news, politics and current affairs show.

She said of her honour: "If it has anything to do with being on the Today programme for so many years, I confess I owe a lot of my staying power to the hard work and good humour of my colleagues."

MacGregor is currently recording a new Radio 4 interview series with figures such as Doris Lessing, Lord Justice Woolf and the also knighted Jonathan Miller.

She began at the BBC as a secretary on a radio programme called In Town Tonight.

After a stint with the South African Broadcasting Corporation MacGregor returned to the BBC as a reporter for PM and The World At One.

In the early 1970s she moved to Woman's Hour and just over a decade later began working on Today.

MacGregor caused a minor stir with her autobiography earlier this year which contained candid revelations and outlined her relationships, including an affair with Leonard Rossiter.

Probing questions

But she will be best-remembered for the way she cornered politicians and other public figures in the most pleasant voice possible.

Former Monty Python actor Michael Palin said after her retirement he would miss her "unflappability and her wonderful ability to let people put their own foot in their mouths".

And even those who found themselves on the wrong side of a probing questions admired her style.

Conservative politician Anne Widdecombe, who had many a run-in with McGregor, said she really looked forward to being interviewed by her.

And in her penultimate Today programme, Home Secretary David Blunkett said the nation would miss her "dulcet tones".