Oscar-winning British film-makers Sam Mendes and Steve McQueen have been knighted in the New Year Honours. Mendes, who won the Academy Award for best director for American Beauty, has been recognised for services to drama, while McQueen is honoured for services to art and film.
Mendes, 54, said he was 'amazed, delighted and extremely proud' to receive the honour. He built his early reputation on the stage as artistic director of London's Donmar Warehouse and for productions of musicals such as Oliver! and Cabaret. He added: 'I have stood on the shoulders of so many collaborators and colleagues over the last 30 years - actors, writers, designers, producers, technicians - to whom I owe a huge debt of gratitude.'
McQueen, 50, is the first black film-maker to win the best picture Oscar, for 2013's 12 Years a Slave. He won the Turner Prize in 1999 for his film and video works. His early work includes Deadpan, a black-and-white 1997 short recreating a Buster Keaton stunt, and he served as an official war artist in Basra, producing Queen and Country, a 2007 work marking the deaths of British soldiers in Iraq.
Other honours include a knighthood for playwright Christopher Hampton, best known for Les Liaisons Dangereuses, and for classical music presenter Humphrey Burton. Damehoods are awarded to Baroness Floella Benjamin, novelist Rose Tremain and actress Olivia Newton-John. Sir Elton John becomes a Companion of Honour.
