Rock’n’roll royalty star in UK New Year honours list
LONDON An ex-Beatle and a Bee Gee are among the celebrated Britons who have been selected for knighthoods and other awards given in the name of the Queen.
The New Year’s Honours List made public yesterday has seen Beatles drummer Ringo Starr and Barry Gibb, the oldest and last surviving of the brothers who made up the pop group the Bee Gees, become knights.
The children’s author celebrated for War Horse, a politician who fought in vain to keep Britain in the European Union, and many others, including renowned researchers, volunteers and actors, also made the honours list.
The future knight is listed as Richard Starkey, a Liverpudlian being honoured for services to music, but the world knows him as Ringo Starr, drummer for one of the most famous bands in the history of recorded music.
He missed the Beatles’ hardscrabble years, when they had to scramble for a gig and play sleazy clubs in Germany to get by, joining John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison GETTY IMAGES just before they rocketed to stardom.
‘‘It’s great!’’ Starr said of his knighthood. ‘‘It’s an honour and a pleasure to be considered and acknowledged for my music and my charity work, both of which I love. Peace and love. Ringo.’’
Starr has enjoyed a successful solo recording career since the Beatles broke up in 1970 and continues to tour with a shifting ensemble known as Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band. Each show features With A Little Help From My Friends, his signature song from the Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album.
The knighthood will allow Starr, 77, to join McCartney, Mick Jagger, Elton John and Van Morrison as 1960s rock royalty honoured by the Queen.
Gibb, the last surviving member of the Bee Gees, said he was dedicating his knighthood to his late bandmates, twin brothers Robin Gibb, who died in 2012, and Maurice Gibb, who died in 2003.
‘‘I want to acknowledge how responsible my brothers are for this honour,’’ said Gibb, 71. ‘‘It is as much theirs as it is mine.’’
Gibb was recognised for services to music and charity. ‘‘This is a moment in life to be treasured and never forgotten,’’ he said.
Author Michael Morpurgo says he is giving his knighthood to Joey, the fictional horse at the centre of his book War Horse. Morpurgo, 74, has written many children’s books, but it is his 1982 book War Horse and the wildly successful play and movie based on it that brought him worldwide fame.
‘‘There was never a knight that has owed so much to his horse as this one – and in fact, we will give the knighthood to Joey and call him Sir Joey,’’ Morpurgo said.
The past few years have been rough for former British deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, but he gets a handsome consolation prize in the form of a knighthood recognising his service to politics. AP