There were, however, many arts practitioners on the list. Is the Diary the only one surprised (and pleased) to see Steve McQueen get a CBE, given the artist's marathon battle with the establishment to get the Iraq war dead printed on stamps? Among the other recipients of a CBE – and the Diary apologises to the names omitted here – are producer Trevor Horn, sculptor Richard Wentworth, theatre director Howard Davies, choreographer Wayne McGregor, trumpeter John Wallace, actors Sheila Hancock and David Suchet, and composer Howard Goodall. OBEs went to Annie Lennox, folkie Richard Thompson, director Andrea Arnold, actor Burt Kwouk, costume designer Sandy Powell and composer Colin Matthews. And there are damehoods for actor Harriet Walter, mezzo-soprano turned professor Felicity Palmer and writer Antonia Fraser.
Disappointingly, despite the Diary's call for a triple whammy of knighthoods for Ken Dodd, Ronnie Corbett and Brucie Forsyth, they got nothing.
