Halifax-born sportswoman Hannah Cockroft and Ilkley-born television presenter Alan Titchmarsh are among a host of TV and sporting celebrities named in the New Year Honours.
Actor Stephen Fry, former England manager Gareth Southgate and London mayor Sadiq Khan have been knighted while a host of Team GB athletes were recognised, among them Paralympian Hannah Cockroft who becomes a CBE after coming first in the T34 100m and 800m in the 2024 Paralympics in Paris.
Leeds-born cyclist Tom Pidcock is made an OBE.
Bafta-winning actress Sarah Lancashire has said being recognised in the New Year Honours is an “unexpected delight”.
The actress has won plaudits for her performances in TV shows including Happy Valley and Last Tango In Halifax, following her breakthrough role as Raquel Watts in soap opera Coronation Street during the 1990s.
Lancashire, 60, has been made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to drama. She said: “It’s an unexpected delight.”
Hannah Cockroft wins gold in the 800m T34 – Women, at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
(Image: ParalympicsGB/imagecomms)
Sir Stephen, 67, known for BBC comedy Blackadder and hosting quiz show QI, was recognised for services to mental health awareness, the environment and to charity.
Sir Stephen told the PA news agency that he felt “startled and enchanted” after receiving the letter informing him of the knighthood and that it was “wonderful” to see the charities get recognition.
He added: “When you are recognised it does make you feel a bit ‘crikey’, but I think the most emotional thing is that when I think of my childhood, and my dreadful unhappiness and misery and stupidity, and everything that led to so many failures as a child.
“And for my parents, really, what a disaster. I mean every time the phone rang, they thought, ‘Oh, God, what has Stephen done now’. It was a sort of joke in the family.”
Sir Gareth, 54, is knighted for services to association football, after leading the Three Lions to the finals of Euro 2020 and 2024, and the semi-final of the 2018 World Cup.
He resigned after England’s 2-1 final defeat to Spain in July, having fallen just short of glory in every tournament during his eight-year stint.
Sir Gareth declined to comment on the honour.
Meanwhile, Sir Sadiq, 54, was honoured for political and public service, having been the capital’s mayor since 2016.
Alan Titchmarsh has been honoured with a CBE
(Image: Bath Chronicle)
Creator of The Tracy Beaker series, Jacqueline Wilson, has been made a Dame Grand Cross (GBE) for services to literature, while actress Carey Mulligan and Yorkshire-raised television presenter Alan Titchmarsh become Commanders of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).
Titchmarsh, 75, who was born and raised on the edge of Ilkley Moor, said telling his wife and daughters about the honour was a “teary moment”. He left school at the age of 15 and became an apprentice gardener. He is being honoured for services to horticulture and to charity.
The top gong goes to Nobel Prize-winning novelist Sir Kazuo Ishiguro, who was made a Companion of Honour for services to literature.
Actor Eddie Marsan has been made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and Myleene Klass becomes a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).
A number of athletes have been recognised after Team GB won 65 medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics, while Team ParalympicsGB won 124 medals, including 49 gold medals, finishing in second place in the final medals table.
An MBE for Keely Hodgkinson, 22, caps a year in which she claimed gold in the 800 metres at the Paris Olympics, successfully defended her European title, and set a new British record of one minute 54.61 seconds that made her the sixth fastest woman in history.
Two-time Olympic champion Leeds-born Tom Pidcock, 25, is made an OBE, having won gold in mountain biking, while Paralympian Hannah Cockroft becomes a CBE after coming first in the T34 100m and 800m in the French capital.
Other honoured gold-medallists include swimmer Duncan Scott (OBE), sailor Ellie Aldridge (MBE) and rowers Lola Anderson, Hannah Scott, Lauren Henry and Georgie Brayshaw (all MBE).
Former F1 driver and broadcaster Martin Brundle is made an OBE and former Scotland and Liverpool footballer Alan Hansen has been made an MBE.
Get all the latest celebrity and TV news straight to your inbox by signing up to our newsletter here.