Arise...

l-r: Dame Helen Mirren CH, Cerys Matthews OBE, Dame Julia Donaldson, Anneka Rice MBE

...Sir Kevin Sinfield [rugby league star who fundraised millions for Motor Neurone Disease awareness in honour of his fellow player Rob Burrows who eventually died of the condition], Sir Peter Lord and Sir David Sproxton [founders of Aardman Animations studio, that gave the world Wallace & Gromit and Chicken Run], Dame Malorie Blackman [former Children's Laureate] and Dame Julia Donaldson [children's author who created The Gruffalo]. The divine Dame Helen Mirren and photojournalist Sir Don McCullin are made Companions of Honour, of which there are only 65 at any one time.

Among thousands of other names from the worlds of sport, entertainment, fundraising, politics and public service, also honoured are:

• Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE): beauty products entrepreneur Charlotte Tilbury;
• Officers of the Order of the British Empire (OBE): Catatonia singer Cerys Matthews, film director and actor Dexter Fletcher, film score composer Patrick Doyle;
• Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE): broadcaster and TV personality Anneka Rice, DJ Judge Jules, soprano Louise Alder, founder-member of Black Sabbath Tony Iommi, multiple Chelsea Flower Show gold medal-winning garden designer Sarah Eberle, fashion designer of Princess Diana's wedding dress David Emanuel, sport radio presenter Garry Richardson, Emmerdale actress and TV personality Lisa Riley, Judge Dread comic character co-creator John Wagner.

Congratulations, one and all!

HM The King's Birthday Honours 2026

I believe in you

Her Maj the Queen had the biggest - and knowing her love of horses (no fewer than 900 were involved, including dancing ones, military ones, dressage ones and several of her own) probably her favourite - birthday party last night!



This spectacular pageant celebrating her life was organised as the closing ceremony for the Royal Windsor Horse Show, and featured a sparkling array of stars of stage and screen - including Dame Helen Mirren, Damian Lewis, Beverly Knight, Andrea Bocelli, Alan Titchmarsh, Gary Barlow, Imelda Staunton, James Blunt, Simon Callow, Alfie Boe and Katherine Jenkins.



Among the (available on the interwebs) stage performances: our ultimate Patron Saint Dame Shirl sang (of course) Diamonds Are Forever:

Shirley Bassey - Diamonds Are Forever

...and Our Princess Kylie Minogue performed I Believe In You:

Kylie - I Believe In You

The set-piece displays (narrated largely by Jim Carter - "Carson" from Downton Abbey) opened with a bang loud enough to make the audience (and the Royals) jump and went through the full span of HM's life, culminating in a huge presentation of all the Queen’s horses – from her show ponies and polo ponies to her racehorses, the Household Cavalry and even the Duke of Edinburgh’s carriage driving team.

Other participants in this spectacular included the Royal Cavalry of Oman, the huasos of Chile, the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, animals from the Royal Farms, the gun dogs from the Royal Kennels, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, The Fijian Armed Forces Band, the New Zealand Army Band, the South Australian Police Band, the Chelsea Pensioners, the Yeomen of the Guard, Highland dancers and the Queen’s Swan Uppers.

Edward, Earl of Wessex, his 12-year-old daughter Lady Louise Windsor, the Princess Royal and her daughter Zara Tindall all made a surprise appearance in the grand finale ahead of fireworks, "Happy Birthday" and "Three Cheers" from the assembled crowd.

I wish we had watched it now...

The Queen's birthday goes off with a BANG!

Gawd Bless Ya, Ma'am!

Her Majesty’s 90th Birthday Party official site

I was never that kind of star

"There's a scary moment when you realise you're no longer the youngest person in the room. Especially if you've been a successful young person. That's followed, of course, by the realisation that you're actually the oldest person in the room."

"I still have a Gypsy sense of adventure. I don't think I have slept in the same bed for more than three or four months my whole life. I am always planting vegetables that I never get to eat and flowers that I never see flower. I have always moved around the world."

"Two phrases I hate in reference to female characters are 'strong' and 'feisty.' They really annoy me. It's the most condescending thing. You say that about a three-year-old. It infantilises women."

"Sometimes nudity is sexy. Sometimes it's not. Sometimes being clothed is more sexy than being nude."

"I was never that kind of star. I was never cast because I was gorgeous."

The utterly magnificent Dame Helen Mirren is seventy years old today - all hail!

And - just because - here she is singing Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me a Bow-Wow with Peter Sellers (in bad "Fu Manchu drag"):

Helen Mirren - Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me a Bow-Wow

Many happy returns, Dame Helen Lydia Mirren DBE (née Mironoff, born 26th July 1945)

Dressing-down of the year

"Not much shocks you on the gay scene. But seeing Helen Mirren dressed as the Queen cussing and swearing and making you stop your parade - that's a new one."

Helen Mirren, dressed as the Queen, tells drummers to move on and stop spoiling the show

Read the whole story

Its a sweet trip to a candy shop

Congratulations today to the gorgeous actress Dame Helen Mirren, winner of the Lifetime achievement award at yesterday's Women In Film And Television Awards in London.

Dame Helen is indeed a marvellous actress, with a long history of gripping screen appearances including several Shakespearean adaptations and BBC plays, ITV's Prime Suspect, and marvellous films like The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, The Madness Of King George, Some Mother's Son, Gosford Park, and of course The Queen. Uncompromising and sexy even in her 60s, she is quite rightly adored on both sides of the pond.

But I wonder if the great Dame counts this appearance (in Peter Sellers' last, disastrous, movie The Fiendish Plot Of Fu Manchu, singing On The Good Ship Lollipop) among her lifetime achievements?

Helen Mirren - Good Ship Lollipop

Dame Helen Mirren on IMDB