London: A team of British divers who helped save a junior football team stranded in a flooded cave in Thailand were awarded in Britain’s traditional New Year Honours alongside former supermodel Twiggy and Monty Python’s Michael Palin.
The seven underwater specialists involved in the remarkable rescue were also joined on the prestigious annual achievement list — announced on Friday — by Hollywood film-maker Christopher Nolan, Jim Carter from “Downton Abbey”, best-selling author Philip Pullman and leading Brexiteer lawmaker John Redwood.
Four of the divers were given awards for exceptional bravery while the three others were made Members of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE).
Richard Stanton and John Volanthen — the first of the divers to reach the 12 stricken children and their coach — were awarded the George Medal, the country’s second highest civilian gallantry award.
Stanton had already been made an MBE in 2012 for his rescue services.
Fellow divers Christopher Jewell and Jason Mallinson receive the Queen’s Gallantry Medal, while Joshua Bratchley, Connor Roe and Vernon Unsworth were decorated with MBEs.
“For me, after saving the boys, this is the icing on the cake,” said Unsworth. Sixties it-girl Lesley Lawson, better known as Twiggy, receives a damehood for services to fashion following a decades-spanning career modelling, singing and acting.
Acclaimed director Nolan, an Oscar nominee this year for “Dunkirk” — as well as in 2011 for “Inception” and in 2002 for “Memento” — gets a CBE for services to film.
After graduating from low-budget independent movies, he has directed some of the biggest blockbusters ever made — including several “Batman” films — and become renowned for his technical and narrative daring.
Pullman, the creator of the hugely successful His Dark Materials trilogy, receives a knighthood for services to literature. The 72-year-old said he was “very surprised and honoured” by the acknowledgement.
Palin, 75, becomes the first of Monty Python’s revered comedy cast to receive a knighthood.
Meanwhile, John Redwood —one of parliament’s most prominent eurosceptics — was made a knight.
In sport, England football manager Gareth Southgate was awarded an OBE, while captain Harry Kane received an MBE following the team’s memorable run to the World Cup semi-finals in Russia.
Overall, 1,148 recipients were named in Queen Elizabeth II’s 2019 New Year Honours List. — AFP
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