RANGERS and Scotland footballer Ally McCoist is among a host of
leading figures whose achievements have been recognised in the Queen's
Birthday Honours.
McCoist, who is made a MBE, is in distinguished sporting company.
Manchester United and England legend Bobby Charlton is knighted,
cricketer Viv Richards becomes an OBE, and boxer Barry McGuigan is made
a MBE.
In the acting world, Sir Alec Guinness becomes a Companion of Honour,
Diana Rigg becomes a Dame, and Richard Wilson, the Greenock-born star of
TV's One Foot in the Grave, is made an OBE. Britain's Angela Lansbury,
star of US series Murder She Wrote, becomes a CBE in the overseas list.
Songwriter Tim Rice and Simon Rattle, conductor and music director of
the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, both get knighthoods. Rock
singer Phil Collins becomes a Lieutenant in the Royal Victorian Order
for his charity work as a trustee of the Prince's Trust. Shetland
fiddler Aly Bain is made a MBE.
McCoist was understandably thrilled. He said: ''I'm a whole jumble of
emotions. I'm tremendously proud and very honoured at receiving this
and, to be truthful, more than a little mystified at being chosen.
Pleasantly surprised, I would say.
''When I look at previous sportsmen and women who have been honoured
in this way, it puts me in very select, elite company and I feel very
proud and also very humble at the same time.''
McCoist's honour will be welcomed by his many, many fans. He is a man
of the people -- a charismatic, bubbly character who has left an
indelible mark at Muirton Park (where St Johnstone used to play), Roker
Park in Sunderland, and, of course, his beloved Ibrox Stadium.
Rangers top post-war scorer -- he still has a few goals to score
before overtaking Bob McPhail's all-time record -- has also made his
mark in the international arena, representing Scotland 46 times.
Last night, Scotland team manager Craig Brown said: ''Ally McCoist is
a wonderful ambassador for Scottish football and this is a thoroughly
merited award. I'd never rule him out of my Scotland plans and I think
he loves the game so much he will be around for a while yet.''
Honours list
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article