Birthday Honours: Zeta Jones, charity founders on list

[dutchman]

Holywood actress Catherine Zeta Jones heads a host of stars of stage and screen to be recognised in the Queen's Birthday Honours list, appointed a CBE.


Coronation Street favourites Eileen Derbyshire, Barbara Knox and Anne Reid become MBEs, while actors Sophie Okonedo and John Nettles are appointed an OBE.

In sport, skeleton star Amy Williams is made an MBE after winning Winter Olympic gold, along with F1's David Coulthard.

Help for Heroes charity founders Bryn and Emma Parry are appointed OBEs.

It has given grants worth £50m to help rehabilitate wounded service personnel since its creation in October 2007.

A host of military figures are honoured from the top brass down.

The Royal Navy's First Sea Lord, Adm Mark Stanhope, is appointed a Knight Grand Cross in the military division of the Order of the Bath.

Maj Christopher Ham of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps was made an MBE after forming a unit of dogs trained to sniff out bombs in Afghanistan.

Mountaineer honour

The list, drawn up independently of government, was seen in draft form by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and signed off by his successor David Cameron before being approved by the Queen.

Among those knighted are South Africa-born playwright Ronald Harwood, 75, who won an Oscar for his script for 2002's The Pianist, and ex-Sunderland football club chairman Bob Murray.

Cookery writer and Great British Menu judge Prue Leith is appointed a CBE, along with Marguerite Patten who advised wartime Britons on how to cook with rationed food before becoming one of the first TV cooks.

Painter Paula Rego, 75, who was born in Portugal and now lives in London, is made a dame for services to art.

The Queen makes mountaineer Sir Chris Bonington, 75, a commander of the Royal Victorian Order in his capacity as deputy patron of the Outward Bound Trust.

In the business world, Rolls Royce chairman Simon Robertson is knighted and Jimmy Choo brand founder Tamara Mellon is made an OBE.

Entertainment stars feature heavily in the list, with 40-year-old Zeta Jones honoured for services to both the film industry and charity.

The Oscar winner said she was "absolutely thrilled".

"As a British subject, I feel incredibly proud, at the same time it is overwhelming and humbling. And my mum and dad are delighted beyond belief," she said.

Born in Swansea, she had headed for the West End at the age of 15 and got her big break seven years later when cast as fresh-faced sweetheart Mariette Larkin in ITV's The Darling Buds Of May.

After moving to Hollywood, she starred in The Mask of Zorro and Chicago and married fellow A-lister Michael Douglas.

'Cherry on cake'

Okonedo was Oscar nominated for her role in 2004 genocide drama Hotel Rwanda and has recently appeared as Winnie Mandela on the BBC.

She described her award as "the cherry on the cake" and "way beyond anything I would have imagined for myself".

Nettles is best-known for roles as Jersey-based detective Bergerac and Det Chief Insp Tom Barnaby in Midsomer Murders.

Reid, who played Ken Barlow's first wife Valerie in Coronation Street, later appeared in many of Victoria Wood's shows, including Dinnerladies.

She described herself as "thrilled and delighted and amazed" with the honour.

Knox - Rita Sullivan in the soap - said it was a "wonderful honour", while Derbyshire, the Street's Emily Bishop, said she was "astounded".

Children's TV presenter Fred Dineage and 'Allo 'Allo actress Vicki Michelle are made MBEs, while ex-Velvet Underground musician John Cale and Graham Nash, of Crosby, Stills and Nash, are among the new OBEs.

Other OBE appointments include writer and broadcaster Bonnie Greer, Avengers writer Brian Clemens, journalist and conservationist Julian Pettifer and Prof Brian Cox, the pop star-turned physicist who has presented BBC science programmes.

Blair Jenkins, the former head of news and current affairs at BBC Scotland, becomes an OBE.

Robin Millar, the award-winning record producer behind 1980s star Sade, beomes a CBE.

Sports stars to be honoured include 15-time champion jockey Tony McCoy, who is made OBE, and ex-England goalkeeper Bert "the Cat" Williams who played when the national side suffered a shock defeat to the USA at the 1950 World Cup. He is made an MBE.

Local heroes

Former Wales captain Gary Speed is also appointed MBE, along with BBC Radio 5 live's chief football correspondent Mike Ingham. England women's team coach Hope Powell becomes a CBE.

Ex-rugby union player Andy Ripley, who was capped 24 times by England and has since spoken of his battle with cancer, has been appointed OBE.

Meanwhile, the statisticians who invented the method for deciding weather-affected cricket matches - Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis - are made MBEs.

In the literary world, best-selling horror author James Herbert is made OBE, while Yorkshire poet Simon Armitage is appointed CBE.

As is customary, three-quarters of the awards in the honours list go to unsung local heroes.

They include MBEs for Philip Kelsall, resident organist at Blackpool Tower, Susan Gibbs, an announcer at Fenchurch Street station in London, and James Fitchie, from Newtownards, County Down, who is honoured for services to ploughing in Northern Ireland.