When I rashly predicted the young Brian Fitch would one day become Mayor of Brighton, the howls of derision were even louder than usual.

It wasn’t so much that Fitch managed to expose over-lavish civic hospitality in The Argus day after day – though he did.

It wasn’t that he campaigned with a fury and fervour rarely seen in Brighton and gained a substantial personal vote – though he did.

What really irked the old guard, not only in the ruling Tory ranks but in his own Labour group, was that Fitch could be frivolous.

And that, in the days when councillors still wore fur-lined robes for major occasions, would never do for the first citizen of Brighton.

Yet he was voted in as Mayor in 1989 three years after Labour had taken control of Brighton Council. Now he has been chosen again, to preside this time over an authority which is a city including Hove.

Brian Fitch burst on to the Brighton political stage – and there was always an element of theatre about him – more than 40 years ago, the family was already famous. His uncle Reg, a stalwart of the Co-Operative movement in happier times than now, was leader of the Labour group in the 1950s.

His father Stan, universally admired for his decency, was a doughty defender of council housing who proudly claimed never to have voted for a rents increase. Fitch Drive in Bevendean is named after him. Later there was his brother Rod, a member of the controversial far Left Militant Tendency, who stood against Tory MP Andrew Bowden in 1983 and lost.

There were and are other political dynasties in the city. Labour had the Hamiltons, father and son in Portslade plus three generations of Steers.

Bob Carden, who is finally standing down at the next election, was in the same family as Sir Herbert Carden, widely regarded as the maker of modern Brighton.

Tories had the husband and wife team of Jim and Audrey Buttimer while another couple, Ken and Ann Norman, are still on the council.

Bill Sheldon (Labour) and Danny (Tory) were remarkable in being brother councillors in different parties.

Even the ruling Greens have got in on the act with council leader Jason Kitcat joined on the council by his wife Ania.

Perhaps the best known family rivalling the Fitches are the Tory Theobalds, whose current leader Geoffrey vies with Brian Fitch for long service as a councillor.

The Fitches have had their feuds and fights, often played out in public, together with triumphs and tragedies. One of the saddest was the early death of Rod, a man who found the world did not live up to his unreachably high ideals.

Brian was never one to shirk a challenge, no matter how difficult. One of the greatest was to stand in the marginal Hangleton ward, having moved to suburban Hove from central Brighton. He faced formidable Tory opposition but still won and he is there to this day.

He knew the value of publicity right from the start. The young Fitch was forever in The Argus when in opposition, pointing sternly to some purported disgrace whether it was dogs’ mess on a pavement or plans to build on a greenfield site.

There were so many that once The Argus printed a dozen or more together under the heading: What is the Point of this Man?

The point was to prove he does have a serious side. He was green long before there was a Green Party, and has been particularly keen on protecting the Downs. He is quick to seize on major local issues such as plans for developing Toad’s Hole Valley.

As chief whip on the Labour group for many years, he became expert at persuading recalcitrant colleagues to stay firm on controversial proposals, employing a droll mixture of cajolery and common sense.

Being mayor will be a fitting finale for a councillor who has lost none of his vigour, despite now being over 70 and nearing the end of his term.

There will be criticisms and controversies. Even now there are colleagues who think him far too much a mischievous maverick, too roguish for his role. But most of all it will be fun.