Dec 31, 2005
The Queen’s New Year Honours Are Always a Good Read
That’s no typo, we’re talking about the Queen’s New Year Honours list, so it’s Honours, not Honors!
Older readers will remember Tom Jones (“Delilah”, “It’s Not Unusual”). Who is not to be confused with the hero of the novel by Henry Fielding, which was made into a movie with Albert Finney. Following in the footsteps of Sir Mick Jagger, Sir EltonJohn, Sir Paul McCartney, and Sir Cliff Richard, comes (drum roll, please) another very successful survivor from the sixties, Sir Tom Jones.
Also among thosehonored on this occasion were jazz musician John Dankworth (husband of singer Cleo Laine), 1950s singing trio the Beverley Sisters—Babette, Joy and Teddie, actress Imelda Staunton (who played the starring role in Mike Leigh’s rightly acclaimed Vera Drake), actor Robbie Coltrane (who stars as Hagrid in the Harry Potter films), Apple designer Jonathan Ive, playwright Arnold Wesker, actor and comedian Sanjeev Bhaskar, and the inimitable Bruce Forsyth. So who’s Bruce Forsyth, you ask. That just shows you never lived in the UK!
Whatever you may think of their particular talents, they all made their fame and wealth honestly—or somewhat honestly, if you include contracts with the British Broadcasting Corporation financed by the compulsory license fee. How different from politicians. And how different from the Queen, for that matter.
Older readers will remember Tom Jones (“Delilah”, “It’s Not Unusual”). Who is not to be confused with the hero of the novel by Henry Fielding, which was made into a movie with Albert Finney. Following in the footsteps of Sir Mick Jagger, Sir EltonJohn, Sir Paul McCartney, and Sir Cliff Richard, comes (drum roll, please) another very successful survivor from the sixties, Sir Tom Jones.
Also among thosehonored on this occasion were jazz musician John Dankworth (husband of singer Cleo Laine), 1950s singing trio the Beverley Sisters—Babette, Joy and Teddie, actress Imelda Staunton (who played the starring role in Mike Leigh’s rightly acclaimed Vera Drake), actor Robbie Coltrane (who stars as Hagrid in the Harry Potter films), Apple designer Jonathan Ive, playwright Arnold Wesker, actor and comedian Sanjeev Bhaskar, and the inimitable Bruce Forsyth. So who’s Bruce Forsyth, you ask. That just shows you never lived in the UK!
Whatever you may think of their particular talents, they all made their fame and wealth honestly—or somewhat honestly, if you include contracts with the British Broadcasting Corporation financed by the compulsory license fee. How different from politicians. And how different from the Queen, for that matter.