New Year Honours: Stephen Fry, Sadiq Khan and Gareth Southgate among stars to be knighted by King Charles

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The New Year Honours list has been revealed with prominent celebrities and athletes being given awards.

Comedian and charity president Stephen Fry has been given a knighthood for his services to mental health awareness, the environment and charity. Sir Stephen, who has been president of the Mind mental health charity since 2011, said of the honour: “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.”

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Stephen Fry, Keely Hodgkinson, Gareth Southgate and Sadiq Khan have all been named in the King's New Year Honours for 2024.Stephen Fry, Keely Hodgkinson, Gareth Southgate and Sadiq Khan have all been named in the King's New Year Honours for 2024.
Stephen Fry, Keely Hodgkinson, Gareth Southgate and Sadiq Khan have all been named in the King's New Year Honours for 2024. | Getty Images

London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who has been the city’s mayor since 2016, has also been granted a knighthood for his services to political and public service. Despite a Change.org petition against the award reaching 20,000 signatures, Sir Sadiq said: “I am truly humbled to have received a knighthood in the King’s New Year Honours.

“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.”

Labour MP Emily Thornberry has also become a dame, while West Midlands mayor Andy Street was also awarded a knighthood.

Former England manager Gareth Southgate has also been knighted in the New Year list for his services to association football. Resigning after England’s Euro final defeat to Spain in July, he had guided the Three Lions to the Euro 2020 and 2024 final, as well as reaching the semi-final of the 2018 World Cup.

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There were a total of 1,200 people honoured on the King’s New Year Honours list. A handful of honours were awarded to Olympians and Paralympians. Runner Keely Hodgkinson, who was recently named BBC Sports Personality of the Year, was awarded an MBE after claiming a spectacular gold medal in the 800 meters at the Paris Olympics.

Others include mountain biker Tom Piddock being awarded an OBE, swimmer Duncan Scott awarded an OBE and Paralympic racer Hannah Cockcroft awarded a CBE.

Elsewhere, victims of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal including Lee Castleton, Jo Hamilton, Christopher Head and Seema Misra were made OBE for their services to justice.

Other prominent names on the list include author Jaqueline Wilson (GBE), actress Carey Mulligan (OBE), presenter Alan Tichmarsh (OBE), actor Eddie Marsan (OBE) and Myleene Klass (OBE).

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