Dozens of people who live or work in Brighton and Hove or who have links with the city have been recognised in the King’s Birthday Honours.
Children’s author Julia Donaldson, who wrote The Gruffalo, becomes a dame while crime writer Peter James has been made an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire).
Donaldson, 77, who used to live and teach in Brighton, is joined on the list by former Children’s Laureate Malorie Blackman, 64, who also becomes a dame for services to literature.
They have been honoured 18 months after Tracy Beaker author Jacqueline Wilson became a dame. Wilson, 80, lives in Alfriston.
Dame Julia was Britain’s best-selling author last year, overtaking Harry Potter creator JK Rowling amid the Gruffalo’s continued popularity and the success of more recent characters like Zog the dragon.
She said: “Receiving this honour has been a very happy surprise. It’s really gratifying to have children’s books recognised in this way.
“I’m so grateful for all the enthusiastic support I’ve had during my career from people in the book world – those in the very many libraries, schools and bookshops I’ve visited over the years, my wonderful illustrators, the publishers and literacy charities I’ve been involved with and, of course, my readers.
“Going back further, perhaps my biggest debt of all is to the library which was in walking distance of my childhood home and the librarian who helped me discover the books and authors that I came to love.
“Without that place and person, I probably would never have become a children’s writer – let alone a dame.
“So I’m making a plea to the government for more libraries and more librarians in our communities and schools so that the current generation of children can enjoy all the benefits that reading brings.”
Peter James, 77, was recognised for services to literature and to charity, having won fame as the author of the dead successful Roy Grace crime thriller series, now also on the stage and television.
Two months ago, his novel The Hawk is Dead came out in paperback. It was partly set in Buckingham Palace after it emerged that the Queen was one of his biggest fans.
The Brighton-born author is also a supporter of numerous charities. He is a patron of the Sussex Police Charitable Trust, Brighton and Hove Samaritans, the Brighton Greyhound Owners Association Retired Greyhound Trust, the Brighton and Hove Independent Mediation Service and Relate in Sussex, among others.
He is vice-president of the Old Police Cells Museum, in Brighton, an ambassador for Brighton University, which awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2009, a Martlets Hospice champion and supporter of Neighbourhood Watch, Sussex Crimestoppers and the South Mid Sussex Community First Responders.
Pat Drake, 90, who founded the Old Police Cells Museum, in the basement of Brighton Town Hall, has been made an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) for services to the community in East Sussex.
Mrs Drake served as a councillor for 40 years in Brighton and Hove and in East Sussex – and chaired the old Sussex Police Authority. She now lives in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Another public servant who has links to the criminal justice system, Libby Clark, 63, has been made an MBE for services to law and order.
She arrived in Brighton at around the time of the Babes in the Wood murders in October 1986 when double killer Russell Bishop throttled nine-year-olds Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway in Wild Park, Moulsecoomb.
And she was the senior crown prosecutor dealing with the case when Bishop was convicted of the murders at the Central Criminal Court, better known as the Old Bailey, 32 years later.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) specialist prosecutor works in the Complex Case Unit which handles a high volume of some of the most criminal cases.
They include human trafficking, cross-border crimes, “cold case” murders, fatal crashes, sudden infant deaths, substantial fraud, money laundering and major public disorder offences.
Here is a list of Brighton and Hove people who have been recognised in the King’s Birthday Honours.
DBE (Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire)
Julia Catherine Donaldson CBE, Horsham, writer, for services to literature.
Shelagh Jane Legrave CBE DL, Chichester, further education commissioner, for services to education
CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire)
Samantha Jane Allen, Morpeth, Northumberland, chief executive, NHS North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board, for services to the NHS
Hannah Kate Bernard OBE, Brighton, group director, business banking, Nationwide, and co-chair, Invest in Women Taskforce, for services to female entrepreneurship and access to finance for women
Professor Taraneh (Tara) Dean, Brighton, provost and executive director of higher education, London South Bank University Group, for services to higher education
Anne Eden, Amersham, Buckinghamshire, regional director, south east, NHS England, for services to the NHS
Jane Elisabeth Hill, Brighton, legal director, Department for Business and Trade Legal Advisers, Government Legal Department, for services to the law
Professor Rosemary Helen Luckin, Hassocks, professor of learner centred design, University College London Knowledge Lab, for services to education
OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire)
Carl Andrew Cox, Horsham, DJ and broadcaster, for services to music
Angela Jayne Doll, Billingshurst, chief executive for Govia Thameslink Railway, for services to diversity and inclusion in the rail sector
Robin William Gisby, London, lately chief executive, DfT Operator Limited, for services to the rail network
Peter John James, Pulborough, author, for services to literature and to charity
Roderick Charles Smallwood, Hove, artist manager and founder, Truants Foundation, for services to music and to charity
MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire)
Michelle Agyemang, Stanford-le-Hope, Essex, for services to association football
Peter Amies, Eastbourne, flood and coastal risk management adviser, Environment Agency, for services to the environment and to flood protection
Elizabeth Anne Clark, Horsham, specialist prosecutor, Crown Prosecution Service, for services to law and order
Phillip Edwin Corsi, Newhaven, lately area operations manager, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, for services to maritime safety
Patricia Ann Drake, Stratford-upon-Avon, for services to the community in East Sussex
Christine Susan Gibbons, Hove, trustee, Parkrun Global, for services to community sport and fitness
Brian Heron-Edmends, Rustington, deputy county commissioner, St John Ambulance, for voluntary services to St John Ambulance
Sali Hughes, Brighton, co-founder, Beauty Banks, for services to the alleviation of hygiene poverty
Ryan Lee Moore, Newmarket, Suffolk, for services to horseracing and to British sport
Lucy Owen-Collins, Hove, founder and director, Bee in the Woods, Brighton and Hove, for services to early years education
Alessia Mia Teresa Russo, Radlett, Hertfordshire, for services to association football
Dr Juliet Rose Bagaya Sargeant, Brighton, garden designer, Juliet Sargeant Gardens and Landscapes, for services to horticulture
BEM (Medallist of the Order of the British Empire)
Claire Alleguen, Hove, local engagement manager and chair of OUTbound Network, Transport for London, for services to diversity and inclusion
Dr Roy Edward Bowden, Worthing, governor, Chichester College Group, for services to further education
Adam Joolia, Brighton, chief executive, AudioActive, for services to young people and to music
need many more of those cells for the large number criminals arriving in Brighton to deal drugs and commit crimes
I see Peter James “among those to have visited Pat Drake at the Old Police Cells Museum in Brighton”. What was she banged up for?