(Bloomberg) -- Former HSBC Holdings Plc Chief Executive Officer Noel Quinn was knighted in the UK’s prestigious New Year Honors list, joining London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Gareth Southgate, who served as the England men’s football team manager until earlier this year, in earning top awards.
Quinn, 62, whose five years as CEO of Europe’s biggest bank came to an end in September, was joined in receiving a knighthood by fellow former FTSE 100 chief executive Warren East, 63, who led Rolls-Royce Holdings for seven years until the end of 2022. Both men will now be able to use the title “Sir.”
The highest award in this year’s list went to Nobel Prize-winning novelist Kazuo Ishiguro, known for works such as The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go. He was made a Companion of Honour, an award limited to 65 holders at any one time.
The honors, awarded twice yearly, are given in the name of the monarch and recommended by a panel that considers suggestions from government departments and political parties as well as from members of the public. The full list published late Monday covers the whole spectrum of British society, recognizing politicians, civil servants, academics and charity workers.
Khan was joined in receiving a knighthood by the Tory former West Midlands Mayor, Andy Street, former Conservative Party deputy chairman Ranil Jayawardena, who served in Liz Truss’s short-lived cabinet, three times Schools Minister Nick Gibb, and former Housing Minister Marcus Jones.
There were damehoods for Emily Thornberry, who served in Keir Starmer’s shadow cabinet while in opposition but was not named to the prime minister’s top team when Labour swept to power earlier this year, and for Patricia Hewitt, who served in then-Prime Minister Tony Blair’s cabinet in the early 2000s.
Ken McCallum, director-general of the UK’s domestic intelligence service, MI5, was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, while Tamara Finkelstein — a senior civil servant who missed out on the top job of Cabinet Secretary earlier this year — was made a Dame Commander in the same order.
Network Rail CEO Andrew Haines and M&G Plc chairman Edward Braham also won knighthoods, while there were lesser awards for a host of names well-known in the City of London. Catherine La Torre, former CEO of the government-backed investment fund British Patient Capital, UK Infrastructure Bank CEO John Flint, and British Business Bank CEO Louis Taylor were named Commanders of the Order of the British Empire. TechUK’s Julian David and TheCityUK’s Miles Celic were made Officers of the Order of the British Empire, a rank lower.
CBEs also went to Poppy Gustafsson, the co-founder of cyber security firm Darktrace and Starmer’s investment minister, London Stock Exchange Group Chairman Donald Robert, former UK president of advertising giant WPP Karen Blackett, former Climate Change Committee CEO Christopher Stark, and the Oscar-nominated actress Carey Mulligan, known for her roles in Promising Young Woman and The Great Gatsby.
As well as Southgate — who stepped down as England manager this summer after guiding the team to the European Championship finals — there were honors for former West Ham United manager David Moyes and the broadcaster and former Formula 1 racing driver Martin Brundle. A host of Olympic and Paralympic medalists were recognized, including the athletes Dina Asher-Smith, Keely Hodgkinson, Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Hannah Cockroft, the cyclist Tom Pidcock, the rower Helen Glover and the swimmer Duncan Scott.
Well-known broadcasters featured on the honors list, with Stephen Fry awarded a knighthood for his services to mental health and gardening presenter Alan Titchmarsh given a CBE. Several people involved in the campaign to bring justice to sub-postmasters wrongfully accused of theft and fraud were also recognized, as were two people involved in the inquiry into the decades-old infected blood scandal.
Jacqueline Wilson, best known for children’s novels such as the Tracy Beaker series, and Leszek Borysiewicz, former vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge, were named Knights Grand Cross — the highest class in the Order of the British Empire.
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