Lipman to be made a dame in Queen’s birthday honours
MAUREEN LIPMAN is to be made a dame in the Queen’s delayed birthday honours list after a 50 year career, it emerged last night.
The actress, celebrated for her role in the Nineties BT adverts, will be honoured on Saturday, according to The Times.
The damehood f orms part of a “bumper” list that will also feature medical staff, volunteers and key workers involved in the response to Covid.
Publication of the list, which was agreed before the pandemic, was postponed from June in order to add names of individuals who will be recognised for their efforts combating the virus and its effects.
Ms Lipman’s damehood comes 21 years after she was made a CBE.
The actress, 74, has been in the entertainment i ndustry f or f i ve decades.
Her credits include Up the Junction, The Pianist and Educating Rita. She also writes a column for The Guardian. Ms Lipman was a vocal critic of Jeremy Corbyn, and despite being a lifelong Labour supporter, she vowed not to vote for the Labour Party at the last general election because of Mr Corbyn’s failure to deal with anti- Semitism within the party.
In a recent interview she admitted she was “a Labour luvvie with Blair”. But added she would be “stark raving mad” to support Boris Johnson.
Last weekend, The Sunday Telegraph revealed Mary Berry is also in line for a damehood.
The 85-year-old former Great British Bake Off judge is in line for the honour after six decades of cookery writing and broadcasting.
The damehood comes eight years after she received a CBE for services to culinary arts.
Berry, who trained at Le Cordon Bleu, once said that the “greatest memory” of her career was being invited to Buckingham Palace for dinner with the Queen.