– Adele honoured in Queen Elizabeth’s birthday list
– Queen’s birthday honours awarded to 1,180 people
– Awards recognise achievement in all walks of life
Grammy Award-winning singer Adele and Mr Bean actor Rowan Atkinson were among more than 1,000 people recognised by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth in her Birthday Honours List on Friday.
Marking the monarch’s official 87th birthday, the honours went to 1,180 recipients from all walks of life, from a beekeeper and a whisky maker to diplomats, artists and business leaders.
London-born Adele, 25, was awarded an MBE – member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire – for services to music.
One of Britain’s best-selling artists, Adele has won a string of international awards for songs such as ”Rolling in the Deep”, ”Someone Like You” and ”Skyfall”, a James Bond theme.
Comedian Atkinson, known to millions of fans around the world for his bungling creation Mr Bean, was given a CBE, Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
A knighthood went to actor Tony Robinson, who played Atkinson’s long-suffering servant Baldrick in ”Blackadder”, a popular BBC comedy series set in different periods of British history.
”Some might say that Blackadder (Atkinson’s bullying character) will finally have to treat Baldrick with a bit more respect,” Bob Kerslake, head of Britain’s civil service, told a news conference.
Away from the celebrities and public figures, hundreds of people working in schools, hospitals and charities were also recognised.
Those honoured will receive their awards from Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace in ceremonies over the coming months, Kerslake added.
Others in the arts to be honoured included sculptor Anish Kapoor, who created the Orbit tower at the London Olympics site. He received a knighthood.
CBEs went to cross-dressing artist Grayson Perry, actress Claire Bloom and Julian Glover, an actor whose many roles include a Bond villain in ”For Your Eyes Only”.
Nicholas Serota, director of Tate, which runs four art galleries across Britain, becomes a Companion of Honour.In business, there were knighthoods for Richard Olver, chairman of defence company BAE Systems Plc and Charlie Mayfield, chairman of John Lewis, Britain’s biggest department store group. Brendan Barber, former head of the Trades Union Congress also becomes a ”Sir”.
Diplomats receiving an OBE included John Baugh, who last year became Britain’s first ambassador to Somalia in more than 20 years.
Martyn Roper, ambassador to Algeria, was awarded an OBE, in part for his handling of the hostage crisis at the In Amenas gas plant in January.
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– Reuters
