STARS OF SCREEN, SPORT AND CHARITY RECOGNISED IN NEW YEAR HONOURS LIST

STARS OF SCREEN, SPORT AND CHARITY RECOGNISED IN NEW YEAR HONOURS LIST

Household names from the worlds of showbiz, sport and politics have been recognised in the New Year Honours list

British-born Australian songstress Olivia Newton-John is among an array of figures from the arts, having been made a dame for services to charity, cancer research and entertainment, while critically acclaimed Bond director Sam Mendes gets a knighthood for his contribution to drama.

 

From politics, Tory MP Iain Duncan Smith, the architect of the controversial Universal Credit system, is knighted alongside colleague Bob Neill.

 

Elsewhere, England's cricketing heroes, including Joe Root and Ben Stokes, are recognised after their World Cup triumph.

 

Schoolboy Ibrahim Yousaf, the youngest person on the list at 13, is handed a British Empire Medal for raising thousands for his community in Oldham.

 

He is joined by a clutch of recipients in their 90s, including veterans of D-Day and the Battle of Arnhem.

 

Grease star Newton-John, who moved to Australia with her family as a five-year-old, told the PA news agency: "I am extremely excited, honoured and grateful beyond words to be included with such an esteemed group of women who have received this distinguished award before me.

 

"As a girl born in Cambridge, I am very proud of my British ancestry and so appreciative to be recognised in this way by the United Kingdom."

 

Mendes, who has directed two Bond films as well as multiple international theatre productions, said he was "amazed, delighted and extremely proud".

 

Academics from the fields of health and science are honoured for their work along with two Holocaust survivors, the designer behind a seminal Joy Division album cover, and researchers looking into climate change.

 

D-Day veteran Harry Billinge, 94, whose fundraising efforts have made headlines around the world, is made an MBE for services to charity.

 

Mr Billinge, from St Austell in Cornwall, was just 18 when he landed on Gold Beach in Normandy on June 6 1944.

 

Battle of Arnhem veteran Wilfred Oldham, 99, from Bury, receives an MBE for services to commemorations and UK/Dutch relations in the Diplomatic Service and Overseas list.

 

Elsewhere, James Charles Macaulay Booth, from Somerset, and Grace Friar, from Northumberland, who were born on the same day 98 years ago, were recognised for services to their community and charity.

 

One of the younger recipients of an MBE, 27-year-old Mete Coban, from Hackney in London, said he was proud to receive an award for services to young people - 22 years after he was moments from being kicked out of the country when border force officers arrived outside his home.

 

Mr Coban, originally from northern Cyprus, said: "My parents were served their last notice to be deported back to northern Cyprus, so I think the significance for them to see their son, 23 years later go on and be recognised by the honours system, I think it's huge. I want to make sure I can do it in the right way."

 

In total, 1,097 people receive awards, the Cabinet Office said, with 50.7% going to women - the second highest for a New Year Honours list, after 51% in 2014.

 

England midfielder Jill Scott, who also receives an MBE for services to women's football, said she initially feared the serious-sounding phone call was to do with a parking fine.

 

She said: "I had a phone call when I was in Marks & Spencer. I nearly dropped all my Christmas decorations.

 

"I thought I was in trouble at first, I thought I hadn't paid a car parking fine or something."

 

Susan Campbell, director of women's football at the Football Association, becomes a dame for services to sport, while journalist and former gymnast Gabby Logan, 46, is made an MBE for services to sports broadcasting and promoting women in sport.

 

Cricket, unsurprisingly, features heavily after England's first men's World Cup victory last summer.

 

Off the back of the triumph, 28-year-old Stokes, the newly-crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year, will be given an OBE.

 

One-day international captain Eoin Morgan gets a CBE and teammates Root and Jos Buttler become MBEs.

 

Coach Trevor Bayliss is made an OBE and Clive Lloyd, 75, a former West Indies team captain, sees his CBE upgraded to a knighthood for services to the game.

 

Entertainment is well represented, with 12 Years A Slave director Steve McQueen becoming a knight for services to film.

 

Several musicians have also made the prestigious list, including Billy Ocean, 69, born Leslie Sebastian Charles, who becomes an MBE for services to music.

 

Snow Patrol lead singer Gary Lightbody is made an OBE for services to music and charity in Northern Ireland after he set up the Lightbody Foundation, which gives annual donations to charities across the country.

 

Michael Prendergast, founding member of Merseybeat group The Searchers, becomes an MBE, while Peter Saville, the man behind the Joy Division album cover for Unknown Pleasures, is made a CBE for services to design.

 

Chef Ainsley Harriott and Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain are made MBEs, while food writer Nigel Slater gets an OBE for services to cookery and literature.

 

Mr Harriott, a mainstay of television cookery shows, told PA: "When I was first told about it, I immediately thought about my dear late mum - which really choked me up, because I know how proud she would have been.

 

"Her boy's proud too - it's a great honour for me and for everyone who has helped me on my way."

 

Wine writer and broadcaster Robert "Oz" Clarke gets an OBE for services to journalism, while BBC Radio 1's longest-serving presenter Annie Nightingale gets a CBE for services to radio after previously receiving an MBE.

 

The businessman behind The Black Farmer brand of meat and dairy products, Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, 62, gets an MBE for services to British farming.

 

Mr Duncan Smith's knighthood was condemned by opposition parties, after an Institute for Fiscal Studies report in April found Universal Credit - which the former cabinet minister helped introduce - disproportionately reduced incomes among poorer adults.

 

Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine said: "It beggars belief that Iain Duncan Smith has been rewarded in the New Year Honours list.

 

"He is the architect of Universal Credit - a failed system that has left thousands of families struggling to pay bills and buy food."

 

Elsewhere, Labour MP for Hull North Diana Johnson is made a dame for charitable and political service for her years in the House of Commons.

 

Holocaust survivors Mindu Hornick and John Hajdu get MBEs for services to Holocaust education and commemoration.

 

Ms Hornick, who lives in Birmingham, told PA: "I'm 90 now and it is always an effort to do (Holocaust Memorial days) but with everything that is going on in the world today - with Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and other unacceptable things that are happening, I think it is important to educate young people."

 

In the performing arts, actor Rudolph Walker, who played Patrick Trueman in EastEnders and Bill Reynolds in 1970s sitcom Love Thy Neighbour, gets a CBE for services to drama and charity, while Coronation Street actor Derek Griffiths - who played Freddie Smith from 2016-17 - gets an MBE for services to drama and diversity.

 

Griffiths' fellow Play School presenter Floella Benjamin, Baroness of Beckenham, is made a dame for services to charity.

 

She told PA: "When I came to Britain aged 10 (from Trinidad) I had a pretty tough time, people told me to go back, they didn't want me here.

 

"And I realised that I was worthy because my parents kept telling me that.

 

"Getting this award is a bit of me getting something back - unconditional love people have shown to me - and I'm really thrilled about it."

 

Playwright James Graham, also known for the film Brexit: The Uncivil War, gets an OBE for services to drama and to young people in British theatre with his work at the National Youth Theatre.

 

Graham was "surprised and flattered" to get the honour, saying: "Like everyone else, you don't imagine or expect this kind of thing growing up, or when you're starting out."

 

He added: "I'm pretty sure I haven't earned it yet, but I'll do my best to justify it in the future."

 

Hamilton actor Giles Terera, who won an Olivier Award for the role of Aaron Burr in the West End, gets an MBE for services to theatre.

 

Terera said he was "surprised, happy and very thankful to receive this".

 

He told PA: "If I have actively sought anything in my career as an actor it has been to do that which honours those who came before me and encourages those who come after me.

 

"This acknowledgement only strengthens my resolve to do both."

 

Nature conservationist and television presenter Steve Backshall becomes an MBE, and wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan, whose credits include Planet Earth II, is made an MBE for services to conservation and wildlife film-making.

 

In the field of health, NHS England and NHS Improvement chief executive Simon Stevens is knighted for services to the NHS, as is neuroscientist Professor Menelas Pangalos for services to UK science.

 

Caroline Palmer Yeates, chief executive of the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, has her CBE upgraded to a damehood for services to cancer medicine.

 

Professor Alan Lehmann, research professor of molecular genetics at the University of Sussex, is made a CBE for services to medical science thanks to his research into two rare genetic conditions.

 

Several people working in the environmental field have also been recognised.

 

Professor Duncan Wingham, professor of climate physics at University College London, is knighted for services to climate science, and Oxford University's Professor Sarah Whatmore becomes a dame for her services to the study of environmental policy.

 

The Cabinet Office said 72% of recipients are people who have undertaken outstanding work in their communities, with 9.1% of honours going to those from a BAME background.

 

Organisers said no honours would be considered for those involved in the relief effort or the aftermath of the 2017 Grenfell Tower tragedy until the conclusion of the public inquiry, the second phase of which will start in January.

 

Likewise, those involved in preventing further disaster in November's London Bridge terror attack are expected to be considered in future awards lists.

 

Published: by Radio NewsHub
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