Dame Shirley Bassey and Sir Ridley Scott are among the famous faces who have been recognised in the New Year Honours 2024.
A list of people who have been honoured by the King was released on Friday (December 29), with individuals praised for various achievements, from charity work to contributions to the arts.
Among them was singer Dame Shirley Bassey, who has sold more than 135 million records, who has been made Companion of Honour for her services to music.
Read more: Scottish New Year Honours list in full
She becomes just the 64th living member of the order, which can only have 65 members at any one time.
Dame Shirley, who was born and grew up in Tiger Bay in Cardiff, told the PA news agency: “My heart is full of emotion and I am truly humbled.”
While Ridley Scott, director of Gladiator, Alien, and Napoleon, has been made a Knight Grand Cross, upgrading his knighthood.
Also named on the list was actress Emilia Clarke, best known for playing Mother of Dragons Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones, who received an MBE for services to people with brain injury for her charity Same You.
Clarke was honoured alongside her mother Jenny as co-founders of the charity they established after she survived two brain haemorrhages.
The actress told the PA news agency the honour was “remarkable” and felt it was “life-enhancing and magical” to see her mother, who has also had surgery to remove a brain aneurysm, also recognised for the work.
Read more: Scottish author Alexander McCall Smith knighted in New Year Honours
Romance novelist Jilly Cooper received a Damehood in the Honours, while Scottish author Alexander McCall Smith was knighted.
Sir Alexander said he was "very touched" by the honour and said it gave him great pleasure to know his books had been appreciated.
He said: "This is very kind of them and I feel most honoured. Writing the books has given me great pleasure over the years and if they have been appreciated, then I am delighted."
Paul Hollywood, known for his hard-won handshake on the Great British Bake Off, was recognised with an MBE for services to baking and broadcasting.
And JD Wetherspoon pub chain founder Tim Martin has been made a Knight Bachelor for services to hospitality and culture.
In music, radio DJ Steve Wright has been honoured with an MBE for services to radio, while singer Leona Lewis has been made an OBE for services to music and charity.
Sky Sports broadcaster Jeff Stelling has received an MBE for services to sport, broadcast, and to charity.
And in politics, former Chancellor Sajid Javid was made a Knight Bachelor for political and public service.
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 hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel