BRITAIN: British football today hails two of its most celebrated stalwarts as they are rewarded for their achievements in Queen Elizabeth's birthday honours list, published as the Euro 2004 tournament kicks off in Portugal.
The former West Ham and England player, Trevor Brooking, now a senior FA official, receives a knighthood, while the Wales manager, Mark Hughes, gets an OBE.
They head a list of sports men and women, showbusiness celebrities and leading figures from the arts, industry and the media receiving honours today.
In showbusiness, the snooty TV character Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced Bouquet) would be delighted that the actress who plays her, Patricia Routledge, is made a CBE.
There are OBEs for broadcaster Richard Whiteley, of Countdown fame, and for Angela Rippon, who became Britain's first female newsreader on national TV.
An MBE goes to the veteran TV weatherman, Michael Fish and to Pam Ayres, who became a TV hit reading her poems in a West Country burr. (She penned a poem, On Being Awarded the MBE, on hearing the news: "At last they've recognised my charms,/ I've ordered up the coat of arms,/ Bought myself an ermine cape,/ And told the kids to bow and scrape!")
Prolific novelist Jilly Cooper, known as The Queen of the Bonkbuster, gets an OBE.
There is also an OBE for Colin Parry, whose 12-year-old son Tim died with three-year-old Jonathan Ball when two IRA bombs ripped through Warrington town centre in 1993.
Mr Brooking (55), already an MBE, spent his football career with West Ham, scoring over 100 goals in 600 appearances. He is awarded his knighthood as development director with the English Football Association.
Mr Hughes (40), receiving an upgrade from MBE, was a Manchester United legend and is the only footballer in the 20th century to have won four FA Cup-winner medals.
Ms Routledge (75) has enjoyed a distinguished acting career. Her role as Hyacinth Bucket in the Keeping Up Appearances series earned her the title of Top TV Comedy Actress for 1991. Two years later she received an OBE.
John Hurt, who also becomes a CBE, is primarily a film and TV actor. His performance in A Man for All Seasons in 1966 is still remembered.
He made his name, though, in the The Naked Civil Servant and furthered his growing reputation as the twisted Caligula in the BBC series I, Claudius.
He also played Winston Smith in George Orwell's 1984 in 1984.