{"id":532451,"date":"2026-06-13T00:06:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T00:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/532451\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T00:06:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T00:06:11","slug":"aardman-founders-david-sproxton-knighted-in-kings-birthday-honors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/532451\/","title":{"rendered":"Aardman Founders David Sproxton Knighted in King’s Birthday Honors"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tArise Sir Peter Lord<\/a> and Sir David Sproxton<\/a>, but very slowly, just a little bit at a time. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe founders of Aardman Animations, the legendary stop-motion pioneers behind \u201cWallace and Gromit,\u201d \u201cShaun the Sheep\u201d and \u201cChicken Run,\u201d have been knighted in King Charles\u2019 birthday honors, issued annually to celebrate outstanding achievements and contributions to British society. <\/p>\n

\n\tLord and Sproxton, who first founded Aardman in 1972, were among a list of 1,182 new recipients of honors of varying degrees of prestige, announced on Friday and ranging from politicians to sports stars, actors, musicians and more. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe both feel it is an extraordinary privilege and an honor \u2014 as well as a complete and utter surprise \u2014 to be recognised in this way,\u201d the duo said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\n\tElsewhere from the entertainment world, Helen Mirren<\/a> \u2014\u00a0already a dame, one of the highest ranks \u2014\u00a0was made a Companion of Honour, of which there are only 65 at any one time.<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, actor-turned-filmmaker Dexter Fletcher<\/a>, who first started on screen in \u201cBugsy Malone\u201d but more recently directed \u201cEddie the Eagle\u201d and \u201cRocketman\u201d was made an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire). David Holmes, who served as Daniel Radcliffe\u2019s stunt double in the \u201cHarry Potter\u201d films but became permanently paralysed from the chest downwards following an accident rehearsing a sequence for \u201cHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows \u2014\u00a0Part 1,\u201d has been made an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) for his his charitable work as well as services to film and media. Holmes was subject of the 2023 doc \u201cDavid Holmes: The Boy Who Lived.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFilm score composer Patrick Doyle, known for his collaborations with Kenneth Branagh and whose work spans films including \u201cThor,\u201d \u201cCarlito\u2019s Way,\u201d \u201cGosford Park\u201d and \u201cMurder on the Orient Express,\u201d was made a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire).<\/p>\n

\n\tAnother honoree was beloved British children\u2019s author Julia Donaldson, who has written more than 200 books, including \u201cThe Gruffalo,\u201d and has seen several recently adapted into BBC animated films. Donaldson has been made a dame, as has fellow author Malorie Blackman, best known for her \u201cNoughts and Crosses\u201d young adult series, which was also adapted into a BBC series. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arise Sir Peter Lord and Sir David Sproxton, but very slowly, just a little bit at a time.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":532452,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[263],"tags":[229168,229169,18,117,7390,19,17,327,229170],"class_list":["post-532451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-david-sproxton","tag-dexter-fletcher","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-helen-mirren","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-movies","tag-peter-lord"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116739885371675082","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}