Honour for writer who brought poetry to the masses

More Birthday Honours

Mr Armitage, a Huddersfield native renowned for a dry and understated Yorkshire wit which imbues both his conversation and his verse, has successfully straddled the worlds of poetry, song-writing and script over a quietly glittering career.

The 47-year-old's list of credits include several popular books of verse, plays performed at the West Yorkshire Playhouse and the Edinburgh Festival, two novels, a debut album and even an Ivor Novello award for his song-writing after it featured in a Channel Four documentary.

Mr Armitage is renowned for his strong Yorkshire roots, having attended Colne Valley High School in Linthwaite before becoming a social worker and probation officer in his 20s. He burst onto the literary scene reading his poetry as a regular guest on DJ Mark Radcliffe's Radio One show in the early 1990s, gaining a cult following for his work's touching and accessible nature. He is now the UK's official Millennium poet and is frequently tipped as a future Poet Laureate.

Other literary figures to be recognised include the novelist James Herbert, who has chilled millions of readers since the 1970s with his distinctive brand of populist horror thrillers such as The Rats and The Fog.

"I am totally staggered and deeply honoured," said Mr Herbert, 67. "It was a total shock."

The playwright Ronald Harwood has been knighted, while screenwriter Brian Clemens has been rewarded with an OBE for more than 50 years' work on TV series including The Professionals.

Also receiving an OBE is former Velvet Underground legend John Cale, who has worked as a solo musician across an astonishing range of genres since leaving the cult band in 1968.

Speaking from Los Angeles, he said: "I'm stunned. It makes you think: 'well maybe I did something right' - and now I've got to figure out what that was. I thought I was too much of a tearaway."

Guitarist and singer-songwriter Graham Nash, who shot to fame as part of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and later as a member of The Hollies, has also been honoured with an OBE. Welsh composer Karl Jenkins receives a CBE, following his OBE in 2005.

And in the world of art, Paula Rego has been made a Dame. Portuguese by birth, Ms Rego made a name for herself as a painter in Britain, where her art features in the Tate collection and National Portrait Gallery.