Lennox honoured for charity work

Referee Howard Webb, who has been awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours List
12 April 2012

Pop star Annie Lennox receives an OBE in the New Year Honours List for her work fighting Aids and poverty in Africa.

The former Eurythmics singer heads a host of entertainment and sport stars awarded honours, including Poirot actor David Suchet and Ryder Cup-winning golfer Graeme McDowell.

Also recognised is football referee Howard Webb, who made up for England's disappointing World Cup performance by taking charge of the final in Johannesburg.

Some of the honours for senior figures from the business world could prove controversial. There are knighthoods for Martin Broughton, chairman of British Airways, Roger Carr, chairman of energy giant Centrica, and Richard Lambert, the outgoing director-general of the CBI.

This year Sir Roger, 64, who lives in Kensington, London, has presided over a huge increase in profits at Centrica-owned British Gas and the hotly-disputed sale of Cadbury to US food giant Kraft.

Sir Martin, 63, who lives in Oxted, Surrey, had a busy 12 months dealing with strikes by BA cabin crew and massive disruption to flights caused by snow and the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud, as well as overseeing the sale of Liverpool Football Club.

Aberdeen-born Lennox, who turned 56 on Christmas Day, has sold more than 80 million albums worldwide with Eurythmics and as a solo star. She now splits her time between her music and campaigning on behalf of Aids and HIV victims and poverty-stricken women and children in the developing world.

Suchet, 64, from London, who receives a CBE for services to drama, has played a huge variety of roles on stage and screen during an acclaimed acting career spanning more than 40 years, but he is best known as Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot in the long-running ITV series.

McDowell, 31, from Portrush in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, is awarded an MBE after a sensational golfing year. In June he became the first European winner of the US Open since 1970, and in October he clinched the Ryder Cup for Europe in a heart-stopping final match at Celtic Manor in Wales.

Another MBE goes to Webb, 39, a police sergeant from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, for services to football after he became the first Englishman to referee a World Cup final since 1974.

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