Rock star Rod on New Year’s Honours list
The veteran singer, who gets a CBE, is joined in the list by Coronation Street stalwart Johnny Briggs and the Queen’s own granddaughter Zara Phillips.
Briggs is rewarded with an MBE after retiring from the soap earlier this year, having played dodgy businessman Mike Baldwin for three decades.
Ms Phillips, who three weeks ago was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year, receives an MBE for services to equestrianism.
The award — the first received by a senior royal in the New Year list — crowns a fantastic year for her after she won gold at the World Equestrian Games and the European Championships.
Among the “ordinary people” sharing the honours this year are a shoe shine boy, a baton twirler and a retired milkman.
Actor and comedian Hugh Laurie, now a household name in the United States, gets an OBE.
In sport, there is an OBE for Ian Woosnam, who led the European golf team to a famous Ryder Cup victory over the United States this year.
Steven Gerrard, England midfielder and Liverpool captain, gets an MBE, while Welsh rugby legend Gareth Edwards becomes a CBE.
Among the knighthoods is inventor James Dyson, who revolutionised the vacuum cleaner, and George Shearing, the blind jazz pianist.
