Twice each year, the honours list recognises the achievements and services of those who have made outstanding contributions to their field or who have dedicated their efforts in service to the community.
The New Year Honours List has 15.1 per cent of recipients from an ethnic minority background, making it for the fourth time running, the most ethnically diverse honours list to date.
Charlie Phillips Awarded Officer of The Order of The British Empire (OBE)
Ronald “Charlie” Phillips was appointed with an OBE for his services to photography and the arts.
He is a Jamaican-born restaurateur, photographer, and documenter of black London, now best known for his photographs of Notting Hill during the period of West Indian migration to London; however, his subject matter has also included film stars, student protests, poor housing conditions, political activism. Phillips’ 1967 photo “Notting Hill Couple” is one of ten images by Phillips featured in Staying Power: Photographs of Black British Experience, 1950-1990s, a collaborative exhibition by Black Cultural Archives and the Victoria and Albert Museum, and in the National Portrait Gallery’s 2015 exhibition Face of Britain.
Main image Charlie Phillips OBE.
Charlie Phillips photograph ‘Notting Hill Couple’, 1967.
Neil Kenlock Awarded Member of The Order of The British Empire (MBE)
Neil Kenlock was awarded an MBE for his iconic photographry of the Windrush generation.
Jamaican-born, he arrived in Britain as a 13-year-old and as a young adult he became the staff photographer on the West Indian World newspaper, edited by Claudia Jones, who also founded the Notting Hill Carnival. He was a co-founder of Choice FM, a London-wide licence which progressed to become a major part of Black life in the capital. Famous for its’ slogan ‘London’s soul power’, the station supported the early careers of Beyoncé, Beverley Knight, and was visited by legend Spike Lee amongst others. Choice FM went on to be one of the most successful black media companies in the UK. In the 1970s Kenlock became involved with the British Black Panther movement, becoming the group’s official photographer and documenting anti-racist protests and demonstrations in the UK.
Neil Kenlock MBE. (Photo: Kenlock Photography)
Moira Stuart Awarded Commander of The Order of The British Empire (CBE)
Moira Stuart was awarded a CBE for her services to media. The veteran presenter and broadcaster made history in 1981 when she became the UK’s first female African-Caribbean newsreader, appearing on national television and radio for her career spanning five decades. Stuart has served on various boards and judging panels including Amnesty International, the Royal Television Society, BAFTA, United Nations Association, the Human Genetics Advisory Commission, and the Queen’s Anniversary Prize. Stuart was awarded an OBE in 2001 for her services to broadcasting and was named as one of “100 Great Black Britons” in 2003.
Moira Stuart CBE. (Photo: PA)
Margherita Taylor Awarded Member of The Order of The British Empire (MBE)
Margherita Taylor has received an MBE for services to broadcasting, television and diversity. She began her radio career in 1993 and has acted as contributor for Good Morning Britain, Lorraine, Countryfile, and This Morning.
Margherita Taylor MBE. (Photo: Getty)
Mark Sealy Awarded Officer of The Order of The British Empire (OBE)
Mark Sealy is a British curator and cultural historian with a special interest in the relationship of photography to social change, identity politics and human rights. In 1991 he became the director of Autograph ABP, (the Association of Black Photographers) and has curated several major international exhibitions. In 2014 he co-curated the critically acclaimed Black Chronicles II, a solo retrospective of the work of Rotami Fani-Kayode, marking the 25th anniversary of his death, and in 2015, researched and curated an exhibition to mark the 70th anniversary of the Fifth Pan-African Congress, featuring photographs by John Deakin exhibited for the first time. Sealy was appointed an MBE in 2013 for his services to photography.
Mark Sealy MBE. (Photo: Getty)
Darcus Howe Honoured
We are pleased that Trinidadian-born civil rights activist, writer and broadcaster Darcus Howe (1943–2017) was honoured with a blue heritage plaque at the former office of the Race Today Collective, of which he was editor.
Howe joined the British Black Panthers as a young man and came to public attention in 1970 as one of the nine protestors, known as the Mangrove Nine, arrested and tried on charges that included conspiracy to incite a riot, following a protest against repeated police raids of The Mangrove restaurant in Notting Hill, London. They were all acquitted of the most serious charges and the trial became the first judicial acknowledgement of behaviour (the repeated raids) motivated by racial hatred, rather than legitimate crime control, within the Metropolitan Police. In 1981, he organised a 20,000-strong “Black People’s Day of Action” in protest at the handling of the investigation into the New Cross Fire, in which 13 black teenagers died. Darcus Howe was involved over many years with the Notting Hill Carnival, both as a participant — in 1971 he founded the Renegades steelband eventually called Mangrove/Renegades — and as Chair of the Carnival Development Committee, elected in April 1977.
Darcus Howe (Photo: The Guardian)
Sara Khan Awarded Dame Commander of The Order of The British Empire (DBE)
Recognised with damehood, Sara Khan has dedicated her personal and professional life to challenging extremism in Britain. Championing human rights and defending democratic values, she has shown exceptional integrity and courage despite threats to her life. She was recently made the Prime Minister’s Independent Adviser on Social Cohesion and Resilience to work against the impact of extremism in communities. She has spent the last 15 years leading a nationwide dialogue to build understanding of extremism in all its forms, driving forward change from within communities and institutions at the highest levels of policymaking. In 2018 she became the first Lead Commissioner for Countering Extremism, building an innovative commission that engages widely across the UK and providing HMG with independent advice and cutting-edge policy solutions.
Sara Khan DBE (Photo: PA)
Professor Ajay Kumar Kakkar, The Right Honourable Lord Kakkar Awarded Knight Commander of The Order of The British Empire (KBE)
Lord Kakkar has distinguished himself in public and voluntary service through his membership and chairmanship of a range of public and charitable bodies, as well as through his services to the medical field. The professor of surgery at University College London was appointed as an independent crossbench peer in 2010 and from 2013-18, he served as Chair of the House of Lords Appointments Commission, taking charge of the recommendation of new crossbench life peers. An outstanding and valuable advocate for public health and clinical research, he has served on the Science and Technology Select Committee and an ad hoc Committee on the future of the NHS.
Official portrait of Lord Kakkar KBE (Photo: UK Parliament Official Portrait)
Professor Jonathan Stafford Nguyen-Van-Tam Awarded Member of The Order of The British Empire (MBE)
Jonathan Van-Tam has been a key adviser to the UK Government on pandemic response since 2004. He has led Covid-19 treatment work for the Government and has been praised for his services to public health. Working with external experts, the Recovery Platform trial was set up, successfully becoming the largest randomised control trial for Covid-19 treatments in the world. He is also the Clinical Adviser to the Vaccines Taskforce. He worked to ensure that the first lockdown was lifted safely. He was central to the Government’s preparedness for a potential H5N1 pandemic, and, in the subsequent 2009 swine flu pandemic, he played a key advisory role advising the World Health Organization and sat on the UK SAGE Committee. From 2010-17 he ran the world’s only WHO Collaborating Centre for pandemic influenza. He was critical to the introduction of the adjuvanted flu vaccine for older people in the UK. In February, he gave up his free time to volunteer at a vaccine centre in Lenton. As a government Deputy Chief Medical Officer, he has played a leading role in tackling the pandemic.
Professor Jonathan Van-Tam MBE (Photo: Faculty of
Pharmaceutical Medicine)
Horace Shango Ové Awarded Commander of The Order of The British Empire (CBE)
Horace Ové is a Trinidad-born British filmmaker, photographer, painter and writer. One of the leading black independent filmmakers to emerge in Britain since the post-war period, Ove holds the Guinness World record for being the first black British filmmaker to direct a feature-length film Pressure (1976). Produced by the British Film Institute, it follows the lives of three generations of a family from the Caribbean. His film, Reggae (1970) was the first black financed feature-length documentary film made in Britain with a successful cinematic release and was subsequently shown by the BBC. He has been the recipient of many awards including Best Director for Independent Film and Television by the BFI in 1986. He has also worked extensively as a photographer and has had many exhibitions. Several of his works are currently part of Tate Britain’s Life Between Islands exhibition.
Horace Shango Ové CBE (Photo: Kaz Ove/PA)
(Mark) Trevor Phillips Awarded Officer of The Order of The British Empire (OBE)
Trevor Phillips is the Chairman of Green Park, a recruitment consultancy promoting diverse talent, and Chairman of the global freedom of expression campaign charity, Index on Censorship. He was founding Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. He is a former Chairman of the London Assembly, of the London Arts Board and of the Runnymede Trust, the race relations think tank. He became the first black President of the National Union of Students (1978-80). He has consistently shone a light on racism through his work on Skin, the London Programme and producing the TV series Black on Black. He set up Pepper Productions, which made the Windrush series on Caribbean immigration to Britain, after which he co-wrote a book chronicling 50 years of black British history. He published a paper on ‘Observations on C-19 and Minorities in the UK’. Through his contribution, the Government’s knowledge base on Covid-19 ethnic disparities increased and assisted in the saving of the lives of people from every background.
Mark Trevor Phillips OBE (Photo: The Andrew Marr Show)
Professor Shakeel Ahmed Qureshi Awarded Knight Bachelor (KB)
Shakeel Qureshi is a globally respected paediatric cardiologist. He has established 4 Peace of Mind, a charity to provide emergency relief after natural disasters throughout the world and also works pro bono for the charity Chain of Hope, UK, operating on sick children both in the UK and abroad, and training teams of doctors in less developed countries. Towards the end of the 1980s, frustrated by the lack of appropriate specialist equipment for operating on children with congenital heart defects, he and a colleague set out to design the appropriate type of balloon catheters, which are now used worldwide. Due to its success, they began designing smaller catheters to treat smaller and smaller babies and children. Nearly 100,000 similar paediatric balloon catheters are now manufactured every year and used worldwide. In 2013, he came up with the perivalvar leak device and lately has been at the forefront of using and evaluating new valves, which allow specialist doctors to treat leaky valves. He is also heavily committed to organising teaching and educational conferences for the specialty worldwide.
Professor Shakeel Qureshi KB (Image: Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust)
Professor Kamlesh Khunti Awarded Commander of The Order of The British Empire (CBE)
Kamlesh Khunti, Professor of Primary Care Diabetes and Vascular Medicine at the University of Leicester has been awarded CBE for his services to Public Health. Professor Khunti’s pioneering research into COVID and health inequalities, and diabetes has contributed significantly to improving the health of ethnic minority communities. Having led a body of research throughout the pandemic, Professor Khunti became a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) and Chair of the SAGE Ethnic Sub-panel. He was one of the very first clinicians to spot the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on people from ethnic minorities. As co-director of the Leicester Diabetes Centre, Professor Khunti has been responsible for major advances in type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, having published more than 1,000 academic papers and has helped to build a significant evidence base to improve clinical practice.
Professor Kamlesh Khunti CBE (Photo: University of Leicester)
Nitin Ganatra Awarded Officer of The Order of The British Empire (OBE)
Nitin Ganatra was honoured with an OBE for his services to drama and charitable involvement. He is a brand ambassador of the British Asian Trust as well as being on the board of many other pioneering NGO’s.
Nitin Ganatra OBE (Photo by Stuart Wilson/Getty Images)
Professor Iqbal Singh Awarded Commander of The Order of The British Empire (CBE)
Professor Iqbal Singh was honoured with a CBE for his work helping BAME doctors, as well as his advocacy for older people. Professor Singh continues to be a major contributor to healthcare and medical regulation in the UK. An experienced clinician specialising in care of the elderly, pioneer in ethnic health and diversity, combined with board level GMC and Healthcare Commission (HCC) service he demonstrates a track record in regulatory, inspection, education and patient safety experience. He is a medical leader with great credibility in the wider community, particularly in relation to equality and inclusion matters.’
Professor Iqbal Singh CBE (Photo: The University of Bolton)
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