Pam wins a gong for ping-pong... at 88
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TABLE tennis world champion Pamela Butcher received her MBE at Buckingham Palace yesterday – at the age of 88.
She said she was very proud to receive her award from the Prince of Wales and hoped it would encourage more of the elderly to take up sport.
The reigning over-85 world champion received the honour for services to the sport.
Mrs Butcher, of Meopham, Kent, said: “I’m thrilled and honoured and so are my family.
“I’m stunned really, I didn’t expect anything like that.”
Also given an MBE was former Doctor Who actress Gugu MbathaRaw, 34, who praised Hollywood’s anti-sex pest Time’s Up movement for building a “wonderful sense of community” among women.
Ms Mbatha-Raw, who won praise for her role in the 2013 period drama film Belle, said she can now “feel the difference” in the industry after the start of the movement against sexual harassment following allegations against producer Harvey Weinstein.
Ms Mbatha-Raw, who grew up in Oxfordshire, said she was delighted to learn during the ceremony that Charles is a Doctor Who fan.
She said: “It was amazing to meet him. He remembered that I did Doctor Who and I was like, ‘Wow, the Prince is a Doctor Who fan’.”
Paralympic rower Rachel Morris, who won gold at the 2016 Rio Games. was also given an MBE and said she hoped it would inspire more disabled young people to go into sport.
Isaac Julien, who makes films on black British identity, received a CBE and said he was excited at Meghan Markle entering the royal family.