A knighthood for the Scottish comedian Billy Connolly and new titles for Paul McCartney and JK Rowling are among the highlights of the honours list awarded to mark the birthday of Queen Elizabeth II.
The former Beatle and the Harry Potter author were made Companions of Honour, a 100-year-old award limited to 65 members at any one time. They join designer Terence Conran, celebrity cook Delia Smith and Nicholas Stern, a former World Bank chief economist and author of a widely cited report into the economics of climate change.
The list, officially published on Saturday, recognises “extraordinary people” from across the UK and is the “most diverse since the Order of the British Empire was started in 1917", said Mary Marsh, a member of the honours committee. Of the 1,109 people receiving awards, 554 are women and 10% are from ethnic minorities, she said.
Ukrainian-born billionaire Len Blavatnik was knighted for his charity work, as was Connolly.
The 74-year-old comedian from Glasgow told the BBC he was "pleased and a little embarrassed" to get knighthood.
"It won't really dawn on me until Glasgow people start calling me 'Sir Billy' or whatever they come up with," he said.
He said it felt strange to be welcomed into the establishment as he still thought of himself as a "hairy rebel".
Other knighthoods went to John Timpson, chairman of Timpson Limited, and Frank Lowy, chairman of Westfield Corp. Jonathan Faull, who led the European Commission’s ill-fated task force to stop Brexit, also becomes a knight. They will all receive their honours in a ceremony during which they are touched on both shoulders with a sword and can then use the title "sir" before their names.
Helena Morrissey or Legal & General Investment Management, a campaigner for women on company boards, becomes a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, along with the actresses Julie Walters and June Whitfield.
Newly installed Commanders of the Order of the British Empire, or CBE, include the singer Sade, Fungus the Bogeyman author Raymond Briggs and former special forces soldier and action book author Andy McNab, who wins the award for “services to literacy and charity".
Stephen Lansdown, who co-founded Hargreaves Lansdown Plc and owns Bristol City Football Club, also becomes a CBE alongside the architect Amanda Levete.
Most of the awards go to those who carry out community and charity work, many with young people. Award-winners include people as diverse as glass blowers, flint nappers, foster carers and John Hare, who receives his award for “services to conservation of the wild camel in Mongolia and China".
The honours, awarded twice yearly, are bestowed in the name of the queen and recommended by a panel that considers suggestions from government departments and political parties as well as from members of the public.