HE'S overcooked. And even if you were starving you wouldn't eat him. But to the Johnsons, 'Pie' is a member of the family.

Without doubt Pie, as he is affectionately known to his owners Tony and Alicia Johnson, from Bacup, is the most widely travelled piece of pastry ever to have risen in an oven.

He has just celebrated his 30th birthday and the globe-trotting delicacy, which began life as an overcooked Holland's Pie manufactured in the Baxenden factory, has notched up more than 500,000 miles.

He has just returned from a dangerous 's-pie' in the sky mission over Afghanistan and has completed tours of duty in Northern Ireland and the Falkland Isles.

Tony, 63, a former double-glazing salesman, said: "Pie first came into our lives 30 years ago. My next-door neighbour runs a bakery shop and the meat pie had been left in an oven overnight and was somewhat overdone.

"He gave it to me over the garden fence as a joke. I put the pie down in the kitchen and it quickly became a standing joke because if anyone went near it I would say -- don't touch that it's my pie.

"It went on and on until the pie became part of the family -- part of out routine."

When members of the family go on holiday they find Pie has sneaked into their suitcase or wash bag. So far this year he has visited bars and hotels in Cyprus, the Lebanon, Egypt and Greece and will spend Christmas touring the Greek Islands.

The Johnsons' two sons, Carl and Paul, were both in the Army and so Pie went on duty with them and now thanks to son-in-law Mark Barcroft, an aircraftsman in the RAF, Pie has been to Kuwait and flown over Afghanistan."

Tony said: "Back home he has pride of place on a trivet on the sideboard. He likes his TV, especially football, but is a bit cautious about cookery programmes!"

Hollands have received postcards from Pie from his global travels. Spokesman Johnathan Barr said: "This pie has become something of a celebrity within the company and we have sent him a special birthday card."