Lingerie tycoon Michelle Mone gets order of garter and it's Status Quo, OBE

Published on Wednesday 30 December 2009 21:57

BRA tycoon Michelle Mone has been recognised by the Queen for her services to the business of women's underwear.

The founder of the Ultimo underwear brand was made an OBE by the Queen in the New Year honours list, which also saw the founders of Status Quo rewarded for 40 years of rocking all over the world.

Rick Parfitt and Francis Rossi were both made OBEs for their hugely successful musical career, including more than 118 million record sales worldwide and a record-breaking 64 British hit singles.

Knighthoods were awarded to Patrick Stewart, the actor who played Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and who has recently returned to the British stage, and Ian McGeechan, the Scottish rugby international turned coach to the British and Irish Lions.

Yet, in what is being seen as a symbol of public atonement over the MPs' expenses scandal, not a single politician has received any awards, while only one banker, from HSBC – which did not take part in the government's financial bail-out – has been awarded a CBE.

Almost 100 Scots were named in the honours list, with Mrs Mone, the Glaswegian businesswoman who left school at 15, heading the list with an OBE for "services to the lingerie industry".

The 38-year-old mother of three who is a regular on television – including appearances on BBC's The Apprentice – said she was overwhelmed and looking forward to meeting the Queen.

The businesswoman went on: "I'm absolutely thrilled, honoured and delighted. Leaving school at 15 years old, never would I have dreamed that I would be recognised in this way. It's incredibly overwhelming and makes it all worth it."

McGeechan, the former Scotland and Lions coach who captained Scotland in the 1970s and led the national team to a Grand Slam triumph in 1990, dedicated his award to his family.

"This honour couldn't have been achieved without the backing of my wife, Judy, and my children Heather and Rob. It is their constant support that has provided such an inspiration to me, and this honour would not have been possible without them.

"I am very proud of my family and I want to dedicate this honour to them. Rugby has been a huge part of my life for over 40 years and to have achieved everything I have with Scotland, in club rugby and with the Lions has been immensely rewarding and enjoyable."

Scots from all walks of life were honoured in the annual list, which also included Craig Armstrong, 50, who created the scores to films including Romeo and Juliet in 1996, Moulin Rouge in 2001 and Love Actually in 2003. He was made an OBE.

The North Berwick golfer Catriona Matthew, who won the Women's British Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes weeks after giving birth to her second daughter last summer, is made an MBE, while the veteran Scottish Football Association doctor Professor Stewart Hillis gets an OBE for services to sport and medicine.

In the world of music, classical conductor James Loughran is made a CBE and Graham Taylor, the music director of the City of Glasgow Chorus choir, is made an MBE.

In business, Deirdre Anderson, director of the Edinburgh-based royal kiltmaker Kinloch Anderson, is made an OBE for services to the textile industry. The former chairman of the Crown Estate, Ian Grant, from Blairgowrie in Perthshire, is knighted, to add to his existing CBE.

Also recognised are the mountain rescue leader Gerry Akroyd, from Skye, who is made an MBE, along with Fife-based rescue volunteer Rod Stoddart.

Mary George, catering supervisor at Crossroads Primary School, Keith, and Peter McFall, the janitor at St Peter's Primary School, Dumbarton, are also made MBEs for services to education. Terry McLernon, who runs a hugely successful table tennis club in Glasgow's Drumchapel housing scheme, gets an MBE. Former Lockerbie councillor Marjory McQueen, who has regularly spoken on behalf of the town in the aftermath of the 1988 airliner bombing, is given the same award for her services to the community.

Craftsman Sandy Orr, from Alloa, is also made an MBE after dedicating more than three decades of his life to caring for the graves of UK war dead.

A total of 18 individuals and two teams from RAF Lossiemouth have been honoured.

Group Captain Al Monkman, a former station commander of the RAF base, has been made a CBE.