New Year Honours List 2012: Clive James, Geoffery Hill, Penelope Lively Lead Cultural Honours (PHOTOS)
Clive James (MBE), poet Geoffrey Hill (KBE) and children's author Penelope Lively (DBE) are among the cultural figures named in the New Year's Honours list.
James, an Australian, is a prominent literary critic and columnist and his TV show Clive James On Television made him a household name.
He was diagnosed with leukaemia, kidney failure and lung disease in 2010, but his work rate has hardly dipped - he published a new book of essays last month.
Penelope Lively, who has been made a Dame, has written more than 50 books for children and adults. She won the Booker Prize in 1987 for Moon Tiger - the story of reporter Claudia Hampton looking back on her life and loves from her deathbed in a London hospital. Her 1973 book, The Ghost of Thomas Kempe, won the Carnegie Medal.
Professor Geoffrey Hill, who has been awarded a knighthood for services to literature, has been described as the greatest living poet in the English language. His collections include Canaan (1996), The Triumph of Love (1998) and Speech! Speech! (2000).
Hill has received several awards and honours, including the Hawthornden Prize, the Whitbread Award and the Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism.
Others honoured include Antonio Pappano, the music director of the Royal Opera House, who received a knighthood.
Philanthropist and chairman of the Victoria & Albert Museum Paul Ruddock was knighted for services to the arts, and TV producer Peter Bazalgette also received a knighthood.
WHO WAS NAMED? : The full list of cultural figures awarded honours can be found here
SLIDESHOW : Photos Of Some Of This Year's Honorees
Playwright Dannie Abse, director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery James Holloway and former dean of the Royal Academy of Dance Professor Joan White were among those to be awarded MBEs.
The Reverend Ronald Corp, the founder of the New London Orchestra, received an OBE, as did author Dr Maggie Gee, publisher Robin Hodge, former general director of English National Opera Nicholas Payne and the co-founders of the Frieze Art Fair, Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover.
Among others honoured were Apple senior vice president Jonny Ive, awarded a KBE for his work in design, and Antiguan cultural figure Vaughan Walter was awarded a Commonwealth OBE for services to the arts.
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Huffington Post UK Michael Rundle First Posted: 31/12/11 00:03 Updated: 31/12/11 00:54