"LONDON - Oscar-winning actor Ben Kingsley, boxer Lennox Lewis and veteran high-pitched pop stars The Bee Gees were among the great and good feted in the Queen's New Year Honours List for 2002.
Other awards went to pop singer Helen Sade, best known for her sexy hit "Smooth Operator", actress Lynn Redgrave and England cricket captain Nasser Hussain, who all received OBEs (Officer of the Order of the British Empire).
Terence Leahy, chief executive of Britain's largest retailer Tesco, and Robin Saxby, chairman of the chip designer ARM Holdings, received knighthoods.
Kingsley, best known for his portrayal of Gandhi and his starring role in the Spielberg hit Schindler's List, also becomes a knight -- earning him the right to be addressed as "Sir Ben".
Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb, the brothers collectively known as The Bee Gees, will set off on a planned 100-show greatest hits global tour in January each with the new title of Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) -- a title also awarded to world heavyweight champion Lewis.
But with Prime Minister Tony Blair determined to place the focus of the awards firmly in the area of public services, many of those honoured were lesser-known champions of schools, hospitals and police forces.
Underlining an election promise to make public services his number one priority, Blair highlighted teachers, doctors, nurses and community workers as the key award winners.
Of almost 1,000 people receiving honours, 10 percent were recognised for contributions to education, 10 percent for work in health and social services and 30 percent for work in policing, justice and other community services.
"The aim (of the Honours List) has been to reward those at the sharp end, people who have really changed things, or who have given outstanding service to others," Blair's official spokesman said.
He pointed out that almost half of the awards in 2002 were to honour people for voluntary work.
Around a fifth of honours were given to business people including a knighthood for Niall Fitzgerald, chairman of the world's largest consumer products company, Unilever, and a prominent campaigner for British entry to the euro single currency.
Blair's spokesman refused to be drawn on whether the Prime minister's decision to honour Fitzgerald indicated that he too was eager to see Britain enter the euro."
Englishman.
Bring on the dancing girls!