Sir Elton John has been revealed as the winner of the highest recognition in the New Year Honours list this year. Among the list appear a wide range of ordinary people who have contributed their honourable deeds to the society. These honourees are household names from various fields of the arts, sport, entertainment, and politics.
For musical people, the “Your Song” hitmaker has been awarded with the Companion of Honour, the highest acknowledgement in the list. Over five decades, John has exceptionally carved out his career in which he has sold more than 300 million records globally and contributed to 23 charities, one of which is The Elton John AIDS Foundation.
John took to his Twitter, expressing how he is “humbled and honoured” to be regarded with such prestigious accolade. The tweet can be seen below.
I’m humbled and honoured to be among such highly esteemed company in receiving the Companion of Honour.
2019 has turned out to be a truly wonderful year for me and I feel extraordinarily blessed.
Elton xx pic.twitter.com/iam3EItGYH
— Elton John (@eltonofficial) December 27, 2019
Another medalwinner from the musical world is Roger Taylor, the drummer of legendary rock & roll band Queen. The 70-year-old drummer is awarded with Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) because of his contributions to AIDS awareness and The Queen musical We Will Rock You.
Snow Patrol’s lead singer Gary Lightbody also receives an OBE for his service to music and charity. He is among almost 100 people from Northern Ireland who are allocated with the awards. The Lightbody Foundation is one of the artist’s charitable works. The foundation aims to make donations for people, especially the youth, with special educational needs and mental health in Northern Ireland.
The New Year Honours is a part of the British Honours system. At the end of each year, announced are the names of citizens from some of 16 Commonwealth Realms who have done remarkable work in various fields. These people will be honoured with awards in many categories from The Queen.
