Come on!
Finally, it’s official. For winning the Tour de France and another Olympic gold medal, Bradley Wiggins is made a knight of the realm. So is Ben Ainslie for winning four successive sailing golds. K’s also for the coaches Dave Brailsford and Dave Tanner, and Sarah Storey , the Paralympic cyclist becomes a dame. In the second tier CBEs go to Mo Farah, Jess Ennis, David Weir, Victoria Pendleton and Katherine Grainger. All well deserved, and congratulations to them.
Then there’s Andy Murray; Olympic tennis gold medallist, the first British male Wimbledon finalist since 1938 and the first British man to win a tennis Grand Slam event since 1936. Where do we find him in the Honours List? In the third tier. Andy says he’s delighted to receive an OBE, and I’m sure he is. I imagine he’d have been even more delighted to receive a CBE, and ecstatic to be knighted. As it is, I won’t be the only Scot to feel slightly scandalised by his rating on the Gong scale, particularly when one notes the CBE awarded for services to the computer gaming industry. And I might not be the only golfer to be surprised that in the post-Olympic frenzy, the Miracle at Medinah seems to have been completely overlooked.
No medal for Chris Hoy either!! So much for beating Sir Steve’s total of golds.
Katherine Grainger, of course, had a partner, Anna Watkins, from my home town, who resumably was not just along for the ride. She has a MBE.
Indeed. All worked out by some people in a room who will never have to explain their thought processes.