Zeta-Jones and Knox Are The Main Winners In Honours List

   

Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones and Coronation Street icon, Barbara Knox were the most recognised faces, to earn recognition from the Queen on Saturday, in her traditional birthday honours list. 

Zeta-Jones has risen to fame for her high-profile marriage to Hollywood actor Michael Douglas, win a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.  She starred in the Darling Buds of May in the early 90’s, and has become a major hit over in Hollywood, featuring in gritty films such as Traffic and The Mask of Zorro.  Her award also recognises the charity work she does, as a patron of the Longfield Day Centre in Swansea, which works with young adults with disabilities.

Knox, 76 has been a regular in ITV’s Coronation Street since 1964.  She has always been a popular member of the Weatherfield cast, owning the Kabin store on the show, and taking part in one of Corrie’s most iconic storylines, which saw evil Alan Bradley hit by a tram in Blackpool in 1989.  Knox wins an MBE, as does fellow cast member, Eileen Derbyshire, who plays Emily Bishop on the show and is the second longest serving cast member, behind William Roache (Ken Barlow).  Coronation Street producer Kieran Roberts said of the recognition; “The honours are great news – and thoroughly deserved.” 

In the acting world, John Nettles, better known for his role in the grim ITV drama, Midsummer Murders collects an OBE, and there are also OBE’s amongst others for Allo Allo actress Vicky Michelle and chief of Shed Productions, Eileen Gallagher, who was the spearhead behind sexy drama Footballers Wives. 

Others honoured in the list of recognition are popular poet Simon Armitage, who receives a CBE.  Champion jockey Tony McCoy, who succeeded in winning the Grand National back in April, at the 15^th attempt of asking wins an OBE.  MBE’s go out to the longest-serving Premiership footballer, Gary Speed, now a coach at Championship outfit Sheffield United, former McLaren and Red Bull Racing driver David Coulthard, who now is a pundit for BBC’s Formula 1 coverage and Amy Williams, our first solo Winter Olympics gold medallist in 30 years.  She triumphed in the Women’s Skeleton event in Vancouver.

Congratulations to all the other people who have been recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, all well deserved for their contributions to their certain fields of expertise and the amount of charity work they do in spare time.  Well done!