Oscar-nominated actress Helena Bonham Carter and golf prodigy Rory McIlroy led the list of recipients of Britain’s New Year’s honors yesterday.
Bonham Carter received a CBE, or Commander of the Order of the British Empire, award — one step below a knighthood — after the most successful year of her career, capped by her performance in The King’s Speech, the hit film about the stammering king George VI.
McIlroy, who last year became the youngest US Open champion in 88 years at the age of 22, became a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).
He was joined by fellow Northern Irish golfer Darren Clarke, who was a popular winner of the British Open last year. He was awarded an OBE, the officer rank that comes between the MBE and the upper CBE.
Nigel Mansell, who won the Formula One motor racing world crown in 1992, received a CBE for his charity work helping children and young people.
Veteran cricket umpire Dickie Bird was given an OBE, while there was an MBE for Scottish rugby union player Chris Paterson, who won a record 109 caps for his country.
Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, the two Russian-born 2010 Nobel Prize-winning professors of physics at the University of Manchester in northwest England, were awarded knighthoods.
From the showbusiness world, veteran comedian Ronnie Corbett, half of The Two Ronnies, received a CBE for services to entertainment and charity.
In the year that Apple founder Steve Jobs died, the company’s British-born designer Jonathan Ive was knighted with a KBE (Knight Commander, Order of the British Empire) for his work in shaping the look of the iMac, the iPod and the iPhone.
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