Arise, Dame Esther... and Sir Elephant Man: Campaigner and veteran actor John Hurt head New Year's honours list
- Esther Rantzen is to be made a Dame in the New Year's Honours List
- She will be rewarded for her tireless charity and campaigning work
- Ms Rantzen is president of ChildLine and also set up SilverLine for elderly
- Veteran actor John Hurt is also to receive a knighthood in the list
- Comic actor James Corden will be made an OBE in the honours list
- Actress Joan Collins is also expected to be made a Dame
- Two Pints of Lager actress Sheridan Smith will 'receive an OBE'
Esther Rantzen, who is set to be made a Dame in the New Year's Honours List for her charity and campaigning work
She’s the legendary star of That’s Life! who went on to found ChildLine for abused children and The Silver Line charity for lonely pensioners.
And now The Mail on Sunday can reveal that Esther Rantzen is to achieve the ultimate recognition for her tireless campaigning – by being made a Dame in the New Year Honours.
Among the other honours is a knighthood for veteran actor John Hurt, 74, marking a glittering stage and film career that has spanned more than 50 years.
ChildLine was established after Ms Rantzen, 74, highlighted the problems of child abuse in 1986 on her BBC show That’s Life! The programme was swamped with calls from the public who said they had been treated cruelly as children.
It led to the creation of the charity which was deluged with 50,000 calls on its first day. The charity, of which Ms Rantzen is president, is now merged with the NSPCC and has 11 bases in the UK. The idea has been copied in 150 countries.
Her work led to her being raised to Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for services to children in 2006. She had already been awarded the OBE in 1991.
In 2012, Ms Rantzen spoke of her regret at not paying more attention to rumours about the paedophile crimes of DJ Jimmy Savile.
She admitted: ‘We all blocked our ears to the gossip. I felt to blame. I felt Jim had persuaded us all, audiences, fans, television professionals, even the Pope, to create a myth around Saintly Jim so that he became untouchable. He deceived all of us.’
Two years ago, Ms Rantzen set up The Silver Line, a ‘ChildLine for older people’, after describing her own loneliness following the death of her husband, film-maker Desmond Wilcox.
For the first time she found herself living on her own and was not prepared for how hard it would be.
Two Pints of Lager actress: Sheridan Smith, star of ITV series Cilla, will reportedly receive an OBE
Actor John Hurt, who has had a career spanning more than 50 years, is also set to receive a knighthood
She wrote of her dread of coming back to an empty flat, of spending evenings alone on the sofa and waking at midnight, still on the sofa, with the TV blaring and ‘my head heavy and aching, and having to force myself to my empty bed’.
Also said to be among those set for an honour is Sheridan Smith, star of ITV series Cilla - and Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps. The Sun On Sunday reports she will receive an OBE.
The knighthood for John Hurt is in recognition of his work in more than 150 films.
Hurt – also known for his hellraising antics in the 1970s as a drinking pal of fellow actors Peter O’Toole, Oliver Reed and Richard Harris – has played a wide range of roles from Harry Potter’s wandmaker Mr Ollivander to gay civil servant Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant, and John Merrick in The Elephant Man, which involved spending up to 12 hours a day in the make-up department.
Joan Collins, left, is also set to be made a Dame, while James Corden, right, is set to receive an OBE
He has won two Oscars, a Golden Globe and four Baftas, but often downplays his talent, saying he is ‘just a character actor really’.
Comic actor James Corden, 36, who played Smithy in Gavin & Stacey, is to receive an OBE. The honour is in recognition of his services to entertainment and charity.
And Joan Collins, 81, who played Alexis Carrington in 1980s soap Dynasty, is expected to become a Dame. She made her stage debut aged nine and went to Hollywood in her 20s, later starring in raunchy movies based on her sister Jackie’s novels The Stud and The Bitch.
Five-times-married Collins, 81, is now settled with theatre producer Percy Gibson, 49. Asked about their age gap, she once joked: ‘If he dies, he dies!’
Kristin Scott Thomas joins growing cast of thespian dames: Four Weddings actress, Joan Collins and Emily Watson lead charge of older women in New Year Honours list
- Kristin Scott Thomas made a dame in the Queen's New Year Honours list
- Other actresses on list include Joan Collins, Meera Syal and Emily Watson
- Esther Rantzen Mary Quant and Carol Ann Duffy have also been honoured
- Among younger performers, Sheridan Smith is appointed an OBE for services to television
Kristin Scott Thomas, pictured, leads a charge of older women today as she is made a dame in the Queen’s New Year Honours list
She has often spoken of how women become invisible when they reach their fifties.
But Four Weddings and a Funeral actress Kristin Scott Thomas, 54, leads a charge of older women today as she is made a dame in the Queen’s New Year Honours list.
Other actresses recognised are Joan Collins, 81, Meera Syal, 53, and Emily Watson, 47, and other notable women on the list include Esther Rantzen, 74, legendary 1960s fashion designer Mary Quant, 80, and Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, 59.
Former TV presenter Miss Rantzen, becomes a dame for her charity work. The That’s Life! star founded ChildLine in 1986 after highlighting the problem of child abuse on the BBC show and being deluged with calls from victims.
More recently she launched The Silver Line for lonely pensioners.
She said yesterday her ‘greatest wish’ was that her husband Desmond Wilcox had lived to see her chosen for the honour. Mr Wilcox, a documentary maker, died in 2000.
‘I am thrilled that this honour recognises the contribution made by ChildLine and The Silver Line in transforming lives,’ she said, adding that Mr Wilcox would have been ‘so excited’.
Miss Quant, who made the miniskirt a fashion essential and later popularised hot pants, has also been made a dame. She said yesterday: ‘I am absolutely delighted … It is extremely gratifying that my work in the fashion industry has been recognised and acknowledged in such a significant way.’
Miss Collins is made a dame for her services to charity. She said: ‘It is humbling to receive this level of recognition from my Queen and country, and I am thrilled and truly grateful.’
In 2006, the actress played down her chances of the honour, saying: ‘I wouldn’t get one. I don’t have the body of work of Judi Dench and Diana Rigg.’
Actress, author and comedian Miss Syal, who starred in Goodness Gracious Me, is made a CBE for her services to drama and literature.
Joan Collins (left) is made a dame for her services to charity while Meera Syal (right) is made a CBE for her services to drama and literature
Fellow actress Miss Watson – who won a Bafta for Appropriate Adult, ITV1’s dramatisation of the investigation into serial killer Fred West – is appointed an OBE. Yesterday, she said: ‘I was quietly smiling to myself all day when I heard.’
Among younger performers, Sheridan Smith, 33, who recently starred in ITV drama Cilla, and has won a Bafta and two Olivier Awards, is made an OBE for services to TV. She said: ‘I’m sincerely thankful and humbled… and hope to continue doing the work that I love for many years to come.’
Her former boyfriend James Corden, 36, with whom she starred in sitcom Gavin and Stacey, also becomes an OBE for services to entertainment and charity.
Emily Watson (left) who won a Bafta for Appropriate Adult, is appointed an OBE while Sheridan Smith (right) is made an OBE for services to television
The actor, writer and soon-to-be US chat show host said he was ‘thrilled, overwhelmed and honoured’.
Actor John Hurt, 74, who starred in The Elephant Man, has been made a knight to mark a stage and film career that has spanned more than 50 years.
Miss Duffy becomes a dame and said she was ‘delighted’ that poetry was recognised in the honours list.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2891816/Kristin-Scott-Thomas-joins-growing-cast-thespian-dames-Four-Weddings-actress-Joan-Collins-Emily-Watson-lead-charge-older-women-New-Year-Honours-list.html#ixzz3NQbA7i8M
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