2021 New Years honors list announced with Lewis Hamilton knighted

Lewis Hamilton, the sometimes Formula One world title winner, tops a New Years honors list that also includes gongs for a 106-year-old fundraiser, a 1990s R&B star and struggling healthcare workers. against the coronavirus pandemic.

The racing driver received the knighthood following pressure on the Prime Minister to approve the award.

Despite being one of the UK’s most successful athletes, Hamilton had previously been overlooked, apparently due to his tax affairs.

Elsewhere there are gongs for those dealing with the problems posed by the coronavirus as the pandemic progresses.

Actress Sheila Hancock, who made a name for herself in the West End before becoming a perennial figure on British television screens, is a lady.

Commenting on the award, Hancock joked that she felt “a little bit wrong.”

“I have never felt like this of a person. It just doesn’t happen to people like me. I feel like I may be toning down. I feel a bit wrong, let’s put it that way, ”she said.

People facing social issues like homelessness, domestic abuse and social isolation also receive awards, including Kim Leadbeater, sister of slain MP Jo Cox, who becomes an MBE.

Hamilton’s knighthood, awarded on the overseas list, may come as a surprise, both because of his decision to move to Monaco in 2010 and because he attributed his success in 2020 to a new determination inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement.

In November, Motorsport UK launched a campaign with the All-Game Parliamentary Group for Formula One to ensure that he obtained the knighthood, with President David Richards saying that the driver’s tax status had been “totally misunderstood” and that he was among the 5,000 highest taxpayers in the UK.

The 35-year-old knelt on the grill and sported anti-racism slogans throughout the season.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4 on Boxing Day, he said: “It was a different impulse than I had in the past, to get to the end of those races first so I could use that platform (for Black Lives Matter) and shine the light as bright as possible “.

The honors system, in which most recipients are awarded titles linked to the Order of the British Empire, has faced new criticism for allegedly glorifying Britain’s colonial past.

Earlier this month, shadow education secretary Kate Green, herself an OBE, called the honor’s wording “offensive and divisive.”

Welsh actor Michael Sheen revealed on Tuesday that he returned his OBE so that he could air his views on the monarchy and his role in Wales without being a “hypocrite.”

Many people who care about the well-being of NHS staff during the pandemic received recognition, including Greta Westwood, executive director of the Florence Nightingale Foundation nursing charity, who is awarded a CBE.

In music, a star of the UK garage scene in the 90s became a music producer and DJ Craig David is recognized with an MBE.

Other film and television stars who entered the scene include former EastEnders actress Nina Wadia and Coronation Street stalwart Sally Dynevor.

Wadia, who rose to fame on the sketch show Goodness Gracious Me, becomes an OBE, while Dynevor, who has played Sally Webster on the soap opera since 1986, becomes an MBE.

Oscar-nominated Lesley Manville becomes CBE and actor Toby Jones, who counts the Harry Potter franchise among his many film credits, becomes OBE.

Screenwriter and producer Jed Mercurio, who wowed the nation with television hits including Line Of Duty, earns an OBE.

From the world of fashion, makeup artist Pat McGrath, dubbed “the most influential makeup artist in the world” by Vogue, becomes a lady of services to the fashion and beauty industry and diversity.

In politics, Angela Eagle, a long-time MP for Wallasey in Merseyside and known for her work promoting the rights of women and minorities, becomes a lady for parliamentary and political service.

Former Attorney General Geoffrey Cox QC receives a knighthood.

The Torridge and West Devon MP caused controversy after warning the government that it was legal to prorogue Parliament for five weeks in fall 2019, a move that was later ruled illegal by the Supreme Court.

The oldest person on the list is 106-year-old Anne Baker of Salisbury in Wiltshire, who receives an MBE for raising funds for the NSPCC.

She is closely followed by Ruth Saunders, 104, of Newbury in Berkshire, who earns an MBE for walking a marathon to raise money for the Thames Valley air ambulance.

Among the more unusual endeavors honored are those of Veronica Main of Hazlemere in Buckinghamshire, who receives an MBE for her services to the straw hat braid and endangered craft skills.