King's Birthday Honours 2025: Gary Oldman and Strictly hosts Tess and Claudia join David Beckham

BBC News

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Actor Gary Oldman has been knighted alongside David Beckham on a King's Birthday Honours list that also recognises Strictly Come Dancing hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman.The Oscar winner and the former football England captain are among 19 new sirs, while 21 damehoods have been announced, including singer and actress Elaine Paige and Regeneration novelist Pat Barker.There are MBEs for teenage world darts champion Luke Littler and Love Island star Georgia Harrison for her work on online privacy and cyber crime.Overall, 1,200 people are on the main honours listed issued by the Cabinet Office, of which 48% are women. The youngest person being honoured is 11 while the oldest is 106.
The list features a range of well-known names, including from the arts, politics and sports, but it is primarily made up of people being recognised for their work in the community, including campaigners and fundraisers. Actor Sir Gary has enjoyed an illustrious career on screen and stage since the early 1980s and in 2018, won best actor at the Academy Awards for playing wartime prime minister Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour. More recently, he won acclaim for his portrayal of an MI5 agent in Apple TV's Slow Horses.How does the UK honours system work?Daly and Winkleman are made Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to broadcasting.Both have had a long association with Strictly, which has aired 22 series. Daly started as a co-presenter with Sir Bruce Forsyth in the first season in 2004, while Winkleman originally hosted a spin-off programme. They have hosted the main show as a duo since 2014."I am ridiculously lucky and will celebrate with Tess by doing a paso doble," Winkleman said.Daly said she almost missed out on accepting the honour after the letter was sent to the wrong address - and added that she cried when she opened the envelope.Sir David's knighthood for services to sport and charity has been confirmed, having been widely reported earlier this month. The 50-year-old ex-footballer said he was "immensely proud".He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2003, and became an ambassador for Unicef in 2005 and for The King's Foundation last year, supporting King Charles' education programme and efforts to promote nature."I'm so lucky to be able to do the work that I do and I'm grateful to be recognised for work that gives me so much fulfilment," Beckham said.Evita star Dame Elaine also received her honour for services to music and charity. "I've been very lucky in my life and my career, I'm in a very privileged position," she told the BBC. "When you are in a position to help others, that is something I wanted to do."
Sir Roger Daltrey, frontman of 1960s-formed rock group The Who and a patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust - known for its annual fundraising concerts at the Royal Albert Hall - has been knighted for services to charity and music. Sir Roger said he was accepting the knighthood "on behalf of all those unsung people who had worked to make the charity the success it had become".Georgia Harrison, 30, made her name on reality TV shows like Love Island and The Only Way is Essex. More recently, after her ex-partner was jailed in 2023 for posting intimate footage of her online, she has campaigned for sexual assault victims to be prioritised in the justice system and partnered with Thames Valley Police to encourage conversations about consent.
"Speaking out after what happened wasn't easy, but I knew it was important," Harrison said. "I didn't want anyone else to feel as alone or powerless as I did. I've tried to turn something painful into something positive, and this honour is a reminder that we can make change when we use our voices."Darts player Luke Littler, 18 - the youngest winner of the PDC World Darts Championship - appears on the list with one of his main rivals - Premier League Darts champion Luke Humphries, 30, who also became an MBE. There is an OBE for veteran star of the sport Deta Hedman, 65, who is recognised for her contribution to sport and charity.
The honours system
Commonly-awarded ranks Companion of Honour - Limited to 65 people. Recipients wear the initials CH after their nameKnight or DameCBE - Commander of the Order of the British EmpireOBE - Officer of the Order of the British EmpireMBE - Member of the Order of the British EmpireBEM - British Empire Medal
The Birthday Honours are awarded by the King following recommendations by the prime minister, senior government ministers and members of the public.From the political world, there are damehoods for former Conservative cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt, who had a memorable role holding a ceremonial sword at the King's coronation in 2023, and Labour's Chi Onwurah, the MP for Newcastle Upon Tyne Central and West. There is also a knighthood for Labour's Mark Tami, the Alyn and Deeside MP.Labour Glasgow MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy, the first permanent wheelchair user to be elected to Holyrood, has become an MBE for her public and political service.
Sir Philip Barton, the former top civil servant at the Foreign Office, who has previously received multiple royal honours, has become a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George for services to British foreign policy, while former Conservative health minister and MP for Lewes Maria Caulfield has been made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for political and public service.The Foreign Office has announced an additional honours recognising the work of overseas residents or service abroad, and there are separate lists covering gallantry awards and for service personnel in the military. Business leaders on the list include Nationwide chief executive Debbie Crosbie, who has been made a dame. Greggs chief executive Roisin Currie and Specsavers co-founder and chairman Douglas Perkins have both become CBEs.Three trade union leaders are being recognised, with Dave Ward, general secretary of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), and Dr Patrick Roach, the general secretary of the NASUWT teachers' union, being made CBEs, while Sue Ferns, deputy general secretary of the civil service union Prospect, is made an OBE.Musicians Steve Winwood and 10cc's Graham Gouldman are both made MBEs, while there are OBEs for Stuart Worden, head of the BRIT School since 2021, and BBC Proms director David Pickard.BBC radio presenter Martha Kearney, who hosted her final episode of the Today Programme in summer 2024, has been made a CBE for services to journalism and broadcasting.
Others from the world of stage and screen on the list include veteran theatrical star Jane Lapotaire, who is made a CBE. Bridgerton actor Adjoa Andoh and Bafta winner Samantha Morton are among the new MBEs, while former EastEnders star Anita Dobson's OBE recognises her work in charitable fundraising and philanthropy.Another former EastEnders actress, Tracy-Ann Oberman, is made an MBE for services to Holocaust education and combating antisemitism.The sport stars recognised include former Wimbledon champion Virginia Wade - a CBE for services to tennis and charity - and double Olympic triathlon gold medallist Alistair Brownlee and former cricketer Devon Malcolm, who both become OBEs.Rugby League legend Billy Boston is also named on the list, making him the first person from the sport to receive a knighthood in its 130-year history. The 90-year-old trailblazer for black sports stars, who played for Wigan and Great Britain in the 1950s and 1960s, received his knighthood earlier this week because of concerns over his health.
Meanwhile, Angel of the North sculptor Sir Antony Gormley and physicist Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell have joined the elite Companions of Honour, an exclusive group limited to only 65 recipients at any one time.But most people on the Birthday Honours list are being recognised for their work in the community.After Samantha Madgin was murdered in Tyne and Wear in 2007, her sister Carly Barrett and mother Alison Magdin set up Samantha's Legacy to educate young people about the dangers of carrying knives. The pair are now MBEs.Zahrah Mahmood, the president of Ramblers Scotland who is known on social media as the Hillwalking Hijabi, has been made an MBE for her contribution to voluntary service in Scotland. She is using her position as president to focus on diversity and inclusion within the outdoor community."If this recognition helps a little to show that the outdoors is for everyone, that would mean the world to me," Mrs Mahmood says. "But I'm also aware that visibility is often the first step. I would love to play a small part in continuing to move things in the right direction.
John and Lorna Norgrove have been made OBEs for services to women and children abroad and in Scotland after they set up a charity in memory of their daughter Linda, an aid worker who was kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan in September 2010 and died in an attempted rescue the following month."We dedicate this honour to all those brave women who remain in Afghanistan, or who have made the decision to leave their homes and families behind to move abroad and continue their studies and careers," the couple said. "Their struggle continues and they are the real heroes of this story."And Duncan and Caroline Speirs and their daughter Jenna Speirs from the Isle of Bute all receive British Empire Medals for their work through Calum's Cabin, which provides holiday homes for children facing cancer, after their son Calum died in 2007.The oldest person to be honoured on the list is 106-year-old World War Two veteran Norman Irwin, who served in North Africa and is being given a British Empire Medal (BEM). After returning to Northern Ireland, he formed the Coleraine Winemakers Club in the early 1960s, and also went on to become one of the founders of the town's Rotary Club and the Agivey Anglers Association.
Meanwhile, 11-year-old Carmela Chillery-Watson, from Dorset, is the youngest person on the list. Miss Chillery-Watson, who has LMNA congenital muscular dystrophy, has become the youngest-ever person to be made an MBE, in recognition of her fundraising and awareness campaigns for Muscular Dystrophy UK."I never thought anything like this would happen," she said. "I just want to make a difference to the disability community, to be able to show them: you're strong, you can do whatever you want."