The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Bird bowled over as he is made OBE
Honours: Gocompare chief executive also invested
Legendary cricket umpire Dickie Bird was left bowled over by the experience of being made an OBE by the Prince of Wales.
The former match official joked about needing a strong tipple after the Buckingham Palace ceremony, saying: “I don’t normally drink, but I could do with a brandy.”
The popular Yorkshireman described being made an OBE as a “great honour” and said it was something he would cherish.
Bird, 79, from Barnsley, was recognised for his sporting career and his charity work, establishing his Dickie Bird Foundation to help underprivileged youngsters.
Speaking after the ceremony, he said: “This makes melook back to my playing and my umpiring days and also my charity.
“We give grants to help youngsters with their sports, they’ve got to be under 18, and my aim is to get them off street corners, get them away from television and give them a start in life.”
Medical assistant Liam O'grady, a Royal Navy medic who saved the lives of four colleagues after they were seriously injured in Afghanistan last year after a grenade attack, was awarded the Military Cross during the ceremony.
Despite suffering shrapnel wounds to his leg and face, the 21-year-old serviceman from Walsall ran across open ground while grenades were exploding around him to drag his stricken patrol sergeant to safety.
He went on to attend to three other badly-wounded servicemen, two with severe injuries to their legs and one with shrapnel wounds to his face. It was only when other medical staff took over their care that he allowed himself to be treated.
Amanda Thompson, managing director of Pleasure Beach, Blackpool, was made an OBE for services to her industry.
She is the fourth generation of her family to run the popular attraction.
Mrs Thompson said: “This is a huge honour, a huge honour. I was really, really thrilled.”
Hayley Parsons, founder and chief executive of Gocompare, the financial services comparison website established in 2006, also became an OBE.
She said: “It was just the most amazing feeling to be told about the OBE, I was very much in shock and thought for a moment, ’is someone winding me up?’, then I told my mother who just cried and cried.
“The secret of my success is that I’ve surround myself with people who are far better than I am.”
Sir Andrew Witty, chief executive officer of Britain’s biggest drugs company Glaxosmithkline (GSK), wasknighted for services to the economy and to the UK pharmaceutical industry.
He said he was focused on the future: “There’s a lot more we can achieve at the company, particularly in terms of how we can increase access to medicines and vaccines around the world, and that’s been a big focus for the last four years.”
Rugby veteran Martyn Williams, 36, a flanker who is poised to earn his 100th cap for Wales when they play the Barbarians next month, was made an MBE for services to rugby.