The Stage

Arts figures recognised in New Year Honours

Published Tuesday 4 January 2005 at 13:05 by Peter Hepple

Though nobody with a close association with the arts was elevated to the ranks of knights and dames in the New Year Honours list - with the exception of Fanny Waterman, the estimable founder and director of the Leeds International Piano Competition - there was plenty of recognition among those awarded the Order of the British Empire.

CBEs, for example, were awarded to Philip Hedley, for his loyalty to the Theatre Royal, Stratford East and more specifically for his multiculturalism in the direction of the theatre, the pop star and founder member of The Who, Roger Daltrey, and the television and theatre playwright Alan Plater. Another playwright, Simon Gray, also received the honour, as did actress Anna Massey, comedian, scriptwriter and latterly, actor, Eric Sykes and pianist John Lill. Other recipients of the CBE included veteran TV documentarian Alan Whicker, the husband and wife TV documentary team Brian and Anne Lapping and also Neville Shulman, who received the award for his charity work although he is best known to The Stage as the kingpin of the British section of the International Theatre Institute.

There was also a strong theatre presence among the OBEs. They include the actor, playwright and director Ray Cooney, the actors Geoffrey Palmer and Tom Wilkinson and the Theatre de Complicite founder and director Simon McBurney. Also honoured were pop record mogul and now TV personality Pete Waterman, Royal Ballet star Leanne Benjamin and Desmond Kelly, assistant director of Birmingham Royal Ballet. Only Fools and Horses writer John Sullivan and the composer Karl Jenkins, once a member of Soft Machine, were also recognised.

Comedian Hugh Lloyd was a recipient of the MBE, as were jazz musician and writer Dave Gelly - a frequent contributor to The Stage - and veteran Scottish variety stars The Alexander Brothers. Jill Fraser, founder of the Watermill Theatre, Bagnor, BBC sports commentator Barry Davies and financial broadcaster Vincent Duggleby were also awarded MBEs.