Presenter O'Grady appointed MBE

Paul O'Grady has vowed never to resurrect Lily Savage

Wirral-born entertainer and comedian Paul O'Grady has celebrated his birthday with an MBE.

O'Grady, 53, who now lives in Kent, is honoured for services to entertainment. He said: "I thought it was a wind-up."

The TV host, who found fame with his outrageous alter-ego Lily Savage, said: "It's a very nice birthday present."

Professor Drummond Bone, the vice -chancellor of the University of Liverpool, is made a knight for his services to higher education.

O'Grady said: "I'm the last person, I'd have thought, who would be given an MBE. What have I done to deserve it?

"I've just sat there night after night banging out telly.

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"The thought of getting this would have never even entered my head when I first started out."

He said the last time he met the Queen he was "blowing a trumpet with my head between my legs at the Royal Variety. She was very nice".

He said his family were "not really royalists, that's why I asked them what they thought. But they said that if you don't accept, it's rude".

Professor Drummond Bone, originally from Cupar in Fife, Scotland, was honoured for his contributions to higher education and regeneration in the North West.

He has been vice-chancellor of the University of Liverpool since 2002 and is due to retire from his post in September.

Voluntary service

He is also a member of the Liverpool Capital of Culture board and is president of Universities UK.

Roy Alfred Morris was appointed CBE for services to economic development and to the Merseyside community.

The governor of Walton prison in Liverpool has also been appointed an OBE as has Air Commodore Jack Broughton for voluntary service to the aircrew association.

Mrs Eleanor Draper has been appointed an MBE for her services to the voluntary sector in Wallasey in Wirral, and Anthony Eustace has also received the award for his services to education and young people in Liverpool and Cheshire.