Actor Stephen Fry, former England manager Gareth Southgate and London mayor Sadiq Khan have been knighted in the New Year Honours.
Honours have gone to a host of Team GB athletes, including runner Keely Hodgkinson, who was named the 2024 BBC Sports Personality of the Year, and mountain biker Tom Pidcock, after the Paris Olympics.
There are also honours for those who campaigned on behalf of wrongfully convicted subpostmasters, after the Horizon IT scandal.
Sir Stephen, 67, known for BBC comedy Blackadder and hosting quiz show QI, was recognised for services to mental health awareness, the environment and to charity.
Sir Stephen told the PA news agency that he felt “startled and enchanted” after receiving the letter informing him of the knighthood and that it was “wonderful” to see the charities get recognition.
He added: “When you are recognised it does make you feel a bit ‘crikey’, but I think the most emotional thing is that when I think of my childhood, and my dreadful unhappiness and misery and stupidity, and everything that led to so many failures as a child.
“And for my parents, really, what a disaster. I mean every time the phone rang, they thought, ‘Oh, God, what has Stephen done now’. It was a sort of joke in the family.”
He resigned after England’s 2-1 final defeat to Spain in July, having fallen just short of glory in every tournament during his eight-year stint.
Sir Gareth declined to comment on the honour.
Meanwhile, Sir Sadiq, 54, was honoured for political and public service, having been the capital’s mayor since 2016.
“I couldn’t have dreamed when growing up on a council estate in south London that I would one day be mayor of London.
“It’s the honour of my life to serve the city I love and I will continue to build the fairer, safer, greener and more prosperous London that all of the capital’s communities deserve.”
A Change.org petition to “stop” the knighthood, begun by Conservative London councillor Matthew Goodwin-Freeman, surpassed 200,000 signatures earlier this month.
More than 1,200 people from across the UK received honours in the latest list.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “Each and every day, ordinary people go out and do extraordinary things for their communities.
“They represent the very best of the UK and that core value of service which I put at the centre of everything this government does.
“The New Year Honours List celebrates more of these unsung heroes, and I thank them for their incredible contribution.”
Creator of The Tracy Beaker series, Jacqueline Wilson, has been made a Dame Grand Cross (GBE) for services to literature, while actress Carey Mulligan and television presenter Alan Titchmarsh become Commanders of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).
Titchmarsh, 75, said telling his wife and daughters about the honour was a “teary moment”.
Actor Eddie Marsan has been made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and Myleene Klass becomes a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).
Marsan, 56, said: “I am shocked, delighted and deeply honoured to receive this award.
“I am only in this position because of the constant love and support of my wife, my family and the people I grew up with in Bethnal Green, so I share this with them all.”
An MBE for Keely Hodgkinson, 22, caps a year in which she claimed gold in the 800 metres at the Paris Olympics, successfully defended her European title, and set a new British record of one minute 54.61 seconds that made her the sixth fastest woman in history.
Two-time Olympic champion Tom Pidcock, 25, is made an OBE, having won gold in mountain biking, while Paralympian Hannah Cockroft becomes a CBE after coming first in the T34 100m and 800m in the French capital.
Other honoured gold-medallists include swimmer Duncan Scott (OBE), sailor Ellie Aldridge (MBE) and rowers Lola Anderson, Hannah Scott, Lauren Henry and Georgie Brayshaw (all MBE).
Former F1 driver and broadcaster Martin Brundle is made an OBE and former Scotland and Liverpool footballer Alan Hansen has been made an MBE.
Hundreds of sub-postmasters were wrongly convicted of fraud, theft, and false accounting over more than a decade, leading to job losses, ruined reputations and imprisonment.
A public inquiry found that the faulty Horizon software caused these false accusations and £500 million has been paid to 3,300 victims through various compensation schemes so far.
Political figures were recognised for their public service, including Labour MP Emily Thornberry, who becomes a dame, and former West Midlands mayor Andy Street, who becomes a knight.
The oldest person on the list is 103-year-old World War Two Mosquito pilot Colin Bell, awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) for charitable fundraising and public speaking.
Former RAF navigator George Kelly, 101, is made an MBE for his services to the Royal British Legion (RBL) and RAF veterans, while 100-year-old Roy Gibson receives a BEM having been the first director general of the European Space Agency.
The youngest recipients, both 18, are Mikayla Beames, awarded a BEM for her fundraising efforts supporting children with cancer, and para-swimmer William Ellard, made an MBE after winning gold in the S14 200m freestyle at the Paris Paralympics.
Women make up 49% of those honoured, with 12% of recipients from ethnic minority backgrounds.
The list also includes 3% identifying as LGBTQ+, 15% with disabilities or long-term health conditions and 33% from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
