Adele named in Queen Elizabeth II Birthday Honors list

PanARMENIAN.Net - Adele is getting a new medal to go alongside her Grammys and Academy Award — an honor from Queen Elizabeth II, The Associated Press reports.

The “Rumor Has It” and “Skyfall” singer was named a Member of the Order of the British Empire, or MBE, on Friday, June 14 in the queen’s annual Birthday Honors list.

Her award, for services to music, caps 12 months in which the 25-year-old singer won an Oscar for her James Bond theme song and gave birth to her first child.

The twice-yearly royal honors lists reward hundreds of people for services to their community or national life. Most go to people who are not in the limelight, but there is also a sprinkling of famous faces.

Adele wasn’t the only honoree connected to “Skyfall,” the 23rd James Bond thriller and the most lucrative film in the series’ 50-year history.

According to the AP, cinematographer Roger Deakins was named Commander of the Order of the British Empire, or CBE, in recognition of a career that has gained him 10 Oscar nominations for films including “No Country for Old Men,” ‘’Revolutionary Road” and “The Shawshank Redemption.”

The list includes a knighthood for Tony Robinson, an actor and political activist best known as dim sidekick Baldrick from the comic TV series “Blackadder.” He was honored for his political work and public service.

His “Blackadder” co-star Rowan Atkinson — best known around the world as bumbling Mr. Bean — received a CBE. The same honor went to actress Claire Bloom, whose career stretches from a film appearance opposite Charlie Chaplin to a role in “The King’s Speech.”

Turner Prize-winning artist Grayson Perry, who creates elaborately decorated and sometimes explicit ceramics, also was named a CBE.

Jackie Collins, author of racy page-turners, was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, or OBE, for services to fiction and to charity. There were also OBEs for Dylan Jones, editor of British GQ; fashion editor Hilary Alexander; and novelist Kate Mosse, author of the best-selling “Labyrinth.”

Genre-crossing British musician P.J. Harvey received an MBE, as did Welsh comedian Rob Brydon and novelist Joanne Harris, author of “Chocolat.”

Honorees included several people behind last year’s successful London Olympics. Thomas Heatherwick, who designed the copper-petal Olympic Cauldron, received a CBE, and there was a knighthood for sculptor Anish Kapoor, who created the opinion-dividing Orbit tower — a 380-foot (115-meter) mass of twisted red steel at London’s Olympic Park.

There was also a knighthood for Wales-born Silicon Valley venture capitalist Michael Moritz, chairman of Sequoia Capital LLP, who last year donated 75 million pounds ($117 million) to help poor students attend Oxford University.

Britain’s honors are bestowed twice a year by the monarch — at New Year’s and on her official birthday in June — but recipients are selected by committees of civil servants from nominations made by the government and the public.