ONE of the best things about my job is meeting different people, from all walks of life. I’ve come across folk who are fascinating, inspiring, funny, quirky, clever, driven, hugely talented and simply fabulous.

Steve Abbott is all of these things, and one of the nicest people I’ve met over the years. Last week I attended a civic reception for the Bradford-born film producer, paying tribute to his glittering career and achievements in putting his home city - and county - on the global movie map.

A life member of Bafta and a voting member of the Oscars, Steve founded regional film agency Screen Yorkshire and led the drive for Bradford to become the world’s first UNESCO City of Film. Over the past decade he’s made great strides in promoting the city as a world leader in film. Creative Cities in countries from Macedonia to Australia are inspired and supported by our City of Film team. And thanks to Steve and City of Film director David Wilson, there’s a Bradford film office in Qingdao, the ‘Hollywood of China’; forging links with the world’s fastest-growing film industry.

Bradford was where Steve grew up, went to school and was inspired by films made locally, like Billy Liar and Room at the Top. He went on to produce films such as Brassed Off, A Fish Called Wanda and Monty Python’s Meaning of Life, as well as Michael Palin’s TV travelogues. The City of Film title, and tireless work of Steve and the team, has attracted a wealth of film and TV production to the district, bringing investment and boosting local business. Peaky Blinders, Victoria, Gentleman Jack and the Downton Abbey film are just some of the dramas shot here over the past year, and film tourism is booming. We lead the way in film literacy in schools, and our screen skills programme was a major factor in Channel 4 re-locating to Leeds.

Now Steve is stepping down as City of Film chairman because he wants “new, younger, more diverse blood” to take it forward. “When Bradford got this title people said: ‘It’s only for a year’. It’s actually a designation that lasts forever, if we want it to,” he said.

Steve’s ambition was “to use film to drive social and economic change”. It is doing just that, with local, national and global partnerships delivering widespread opportunities, particularly in business and education.

Steve will be missed. But, as he says, it is now up to us to take ownership of this UNESCO title and take it into the future.

l WHAT a soppy lot those celebrities in the TV jungle are. The second week of I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here is barely underway and the campmates are weeping and wailing about missing their loved ones. There wasn’t a dry eye among them when they received “care packages” from home the other night. The bloke from EastEnders sobbed as he opened a lump of cheese from his wife...

They’ve only been away for the length of an average package holiday! My mum was born during the war and her father, who was serving in North Africa, didn’t see her for the first three years of her life. It was the same for many men who spent the war in countries far from home. All they had was a letter now and then, if they were lucky. Today’s servicemen and women also spend long periods away from their families.

The celebrities on ITV’s hit show are handsomely paid and well looked after on what is basically a set trimmed up to resemble the Australian outback - and in a week or so they’ll be reunited with their families in a luxury hotel.

Get some perspective, people.

* MORE than 20,000 people turned up at The Broadway shopping centre over the weekend to meet 11-year-old YouTube sensation Tiana Wilson.

No, I’d never heard of her either, but I’m not exactly her target demographic. The online sensation started out reviewing toys on YouTube (aged seven) and now has over 18 million subscribers, with three billion-plus views a year.

Young fans queued for up to five hours (some arriving at 3am) to meet Tiana, who was launching a pop-up shop.

I'm afraid I find it a bit depressing. Children should spend their weekends having fun - not queuing for hours like zombies in a shopping centre.

And is the rather soulless, not to mention exhausting, process of meeting-and-greeting 20,000 strangers really any way to spend a childhood?

* I HAVE a soft spot for Martin and Shirlie Kemp. Their new joint album of loved-up duets might seem a bit cheesy, but they've always seemed a genuinely nice couple (and married 30 years - a showbiz rarity). My aunt, a talented artist, once appeared on TV's The One Show and Martin Kemp was a fellow guest. He and Shirlie spent time with her afterwards, she said they were delightful.

Shirlie has since kept in touch with my aunt, and puts lovely comments on her Instagram page. My aunt is 82 and posts selfies on Instagram! Now that's cool.