Two giants of the literary world, the novelists Ian McEwan and the late Martin Amis, are recognised in the king’s first official birthday honours along with the fashion colossus Dame Anna Wintour.
The Booker prize-winning McEwan, whose acclaimed titles include Amsterdam, On Chesil Beach and Atonement, becomes a companion of honour, an exclusive award for outstanding achievement, of which there are only 65 at any time.
Amis, his long-time friend, whose influential and innovative novels include Money, London Fields, and Time’s Arrow, is knighted, with the award dated 18 May, the day before his death last month aged 73, as honours cannot be given posthumously.
Wintour, the editor-in-chief of Vogue since 1988, who has won recognition for her equality campaigning, becomes a companion of honour.
McEwan said he was “delighted”, comparing it to “a really good review”.
“I’m now entering my 54th year of writing fiction. As all dedicated writers know, a literary life is not a career so much as a way of being. The task in hand, the novel one is trying to create, is always there, a constant and intimate companion,” he added.
“The writers who precede me in this award have long been companions too – Maugham, Greene, Larkin, Pinter, Margaret Atwood, Antonia Fraser, and my friend Salman Rushdie. Truly, a companionable honour.”
Ben Okri, the renowned Nigerian-born poet, essayist and cultural activist, who won the Booker for The Famished Road, said he was delighted at his knighthood.
He said: “For me, the main value of this honour at this moment is necessity to remind my fellow human beings that we are living on the cusp of a worldwide environmental crisis. If we don’t do something radical about it now, within 10 years nothing will be the same. Art is a reminder that the human destiny has to go upwards. This is the moment to reverse our backward thinking and create a new future.”
They are among 1,171 people recognised in a list that sees the former hostage Terry Waite, 84, the co-founder of Hostage International, knighted for services to the UK overseas.
Waite, who as Church of England envoy was captured and held for five years by Islamic Jihad terrorists in Beirut while trying to secure the release of four other hostages, said: “It is a very significant honour and I’m really amazed that I’ve got it. I’m getting on but I’m still working at 84 now. I’m still very active.”
Philip Bigley, the brother of the murdered Iraq hostage Ken Bigley, receives an OBE for his work to support those affected by kidnapping incidents overseas. He was “both shocked and honoured to have been nominated for this award, which I graciously accept in memory of my brother, Ken, and on behalf of our family”.
The leading scientist Sir John Bell, who served as a government Covid-testing tsar, receives the award of companion of honour. The Oxford University regis professor of medicine said the honour “reflects the efforts of the very large number of people across the sector who have made this one of the UK’s strongest disciplines”.
The prolific film and TV director Stephen Frears, whose extensive body of work ranges from 1985’s My Beautiful Laundrette to The Queen, and the more recent BBC drama A Very British Scandal, is knighted.
Other well-known figures from the arts include the Calendar Girls actor Celia Imrie, who is made a CBE, along with the stage and TV actor Kenneth Cranham. The TV presenter and menopause campaigner Davina McCall, who becomes an MBE, said: “It’s a great honour”. The Line of Duty actor Vicky McClure is awarded an MBE for her work on dementia.
In sport, the footballer-turned TV pundit Ian Wright is made an OBE. Two stars of wheelchair tennis, Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid, are rewarded with OBEs. The former Chelsea and England forward Eniola Aluko, who won 102 caps for the Lionesses during her playing career, is made an MBE.
So too is the Northern Ireland international and Leicester City defender Jonny Evans. Capped 100 times by Northern Ireland, Evans said he was “very proud, especially when I saw that it was in recognition of my contribution to association football in Northern Ireland”. The former Scotland and Rangers player John Greig is made a CBE.
In media, there are knighthoods for Mark Thompson, the former director general of the BBC who became CEO of the New York Times, and the Sky executive Jeremy Darroch. Ken Bruce, who recently left BBC radio after 31 years for Greatest Hits Radio, is made an MBE for services to radio and autism awareness. The broadcaster, who has an autistic son, said he hoped the award might help highlight “the many difficulties autistic people face”.
The photojournalist Marcus Bleasdale is made a companion of the Order of St Michael and St George for his work highlighting human rights and conflict.
Politicians recognised include the Labour MP and former minister Ben Bradshaw, who is knighted. The Conservative MPs Robert Blackman and John Baron both receive CBEs, while the Conservative MPs Heather Wheeler and Damian Collins are made OBEs.
William Shawcross, the commissioner for public appointments and former chair of the Charity Commission, is given a knighthood for public service. Shawcross, whose review into the government’s Prevent anti-terror programme was criticised by some MPs and campaigners, said he was “happy and very grateful” with the honour.
The MI6 chief, Richard Moore, is knighted for services to the UK overseas. As is Dr John Chipman, the DG and CEO of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Alex Chisholm, the permanent secretary of the Cabinet Office, is knighted. Sir Simon Gass, the chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee, is made a knight grand cross of the order of St Michael and St George.
Jacqueline Baillie, the deputy leader of the Scottish Labour party, is made a dame, as are the leading economist Prof Diane Coyle, and Annette King, one of the most influential people in the UK’s advertising industry. Prof Averil Mansfield, who became the first female UK professor of surgery, Kathryn McDowell, the MD of the London Symphony Orchestra and Elizabeth Nicholl, the former CEO of UK Sport, are also among those receiving damehoods.
From medicine, Sheila Reith, who pioneered the first insulin injection pen, transforming the lives of hundreds of millions of people with diabetes, is made a CBE.
The consultant gynaecologist Alan Farthing, who helped deliver the Prince and Princess of Wales’s three children, is made a commander of the Royal Victorian Order (RVO), which is the order of honours in the personal gift of the King. Farthing was surgeon-gynaecologist to the royal household for a number of years and is one of the country’s pioneers in using keyhole surgery to treat gynaecological cancer patients.
The oldest recipient is 106-year-old Joan Willett, who was given a British empire medal (BEM) for her charitable fundraising for the British Heart Foundation.
Of those recognised, half are women, 11% come from a minority ethnic background, 13% are disabled or have a long-term health condition, and 23% consider themselves to come from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds.
The deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, said: “This year’s honours list is a testament to ordinary people who have demonstrated extraordinary community spirit, and I pay tribute to all those who have been recognised today. Our honours system has long been a way of recognising people who make an incredible contribution to life in Britain and beyond.”
• This article was amended on 17 and 19 June 2023. A description of the title companion of honour as “the highest award for outstanding achievement” was removed, and a reference to Sir John Bell’s government Covid-testing role was clarified.
