Heroes and entertainers recognised in medals list
UK’s second best-loved hymn of all time in a BBC Songs of Praise survey and among the top five hymns of all time by the UK Hymns Society. Not bad for someone who started off as a teenager running the evangelical New Irish Arts club in his parents’ living room. “My parents are both musicians and I was raised going to Elmwood Church in Lisburn where I was afforded many opportunities,” Keith recalls. “Friends School and good friends really were key in helping both flourish. Mum (a piano teacher) and dad (former civil servant) have always both been massive supporters of the songs and allowed our house to be an open house for all our friends and the crazy stuff we got up to from earliest teenage years.”
The Getty family friends include Ian Paisley MP, who paid tribute to Keith. “Keith and his wife Kristyn have revolutionised the modern-day hymn and have made people the world over fall in love with hymn singing once again,” he said.
Keith and Kristyn have settled in Nashville with their three young daughters.
“Kristyn and I met through her uncle and we haven’t had a night apart since we got married 13 years ago. It’s been an incredible journey together,” he added. THE policeman killed after confronting the Westminster terror attacker, and the heroic passer-by stabbed trying to protect MP Jo Cox have been awarded medals for their bravery.
Their recognition came as comedian Billy Connolly was given a knighthood and actress Julie Walters was made a Dame in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Oscar-winner Olivia de Havilland, who turns 101 next month, is the oldest woman to become a Dame in this centenary year of the modern-day honours system.
Those honoured from the world of entertainment include chart-topper Ed Sheeran and comedian David Walliams, with the honours committee describing the list as the most diverse yet.
In a break with tradition, the Queen’s Civilian Gallantry List has been released at the same time as the monarch’s birthday honours.
Police Constable Keith Palmer, who was stabbed to death by attacker Khalid Masood in March on the forecourt of the Palace of Westminster, is posthumously awarded the George Medal for confronting an armed terrorist to protect others and Parliament.
Briton Dominic Troulan, who was working as a security consultant in Kenya when terrorists attacked a shopping mall in 2013, is awarded the George Cross for saving lives during the massacre.
Bernard Kenny, who was stabbed in the abdomen as he tried to stop neo-Nazi Thomas Mair attacking Mrs Cox outside her constituency surgery in Yorkshire, receives the George Medal one year on from the murder.
Two West Yorkshire Police officers, PC Craig Nicholls and PC Jonathan Wright, who arrested Mair are awarded the Queen’s Gallantry Medal.
More than 1,000 people are recognised in the separate Queen’s Birthday Honours list, which is led by Sir Billy, Dame Julie and Dame Olivia.
Sir Billy, known to fans as the Big Yin, is knighted at the age of 74 in recognition of his services to entertainment and charity.
Bafta award winner Dame Julie (67) and Gone With The Wind starlet Dame Olivia are honoured for their services to drama.
Sheeran (26) receives an MBE for services to music and charity, as does singer Emeli Sande, for services to music.
Former SAS soldier and author Andy McNab receives a CBE for services to literacy and charity.
Britain’s last surviving Dambuster, George “Johnny” Johnson, who was the subject of a petition supported by TV star Carol Vorderman calling for the retired squadron leader to be given a knighthood, receives an MBE for services to Second World War remembrance and the community in Bristol.