Journalist Anne Diamond among those to receive honours at Buckingham Palace
Veteran journalist Anne Diamond is among those receiving honours at Buckingham Palace today.
The GB News presenter, 69, will be made an OBE for her services to public health and charity, including her campaigning efforts for research into cot death.
She said in June that she received news of the honour on the same day she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
After her son Sebastian died from sudden infant death syndrome (Sids) – commonly called cot death – in 1990, Ms Diamond joined with The Lullaby Trust and the Department of Health to launch the Back to Sleep awareness campaign.
The national media campaign, started in 1991, warned parents that babies should sleep on their backs not their fronts, and has been credited with a reduction in deaths.
Ms Diamond began her career in regional news and went on to work for both ITV and the BBC, becoming a star of daytime TV in the 1980s and 1990s.
After being named in the New Year Honours in December, she said: “This OBE is literally a crowning achievement to everyone who helped me and upon whose ground-breaking research my campaign was based.
“This is also testament that the media can be a force for good. By the Government’s own report, 80% of parents who got the life-saving advice got it from the TV ads.
“But mostly this is for Sebastian, whom we still miss, and all of those tragically lost lives.”
Dame Ann Limb and Tanya Steele are among the other notable names being honoured.
Dame Ann, who served as the first female and openly gay chairwoman of the Scout Association from 2015 to 2021, will be honoured for her services to young people and philanthropy.
Ms Steele, chief executive of World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) UK, will be recognised with a CBE for services to wildlife and the environment.
Her investiture comes after the organisation released its Forest Pathways Report on Tuesday, which has outlined recommendations on how the UK, and more widely the world, can get back on track to meet its 2030 deforestation target.
Emma and Sergio Petrucci, co-founders of the Red Sky Foundation, will both be made MBEs for services to health and the community in north-east England.
The charity, set up in 2016, raises funds for the Children’s Heart Unit at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital and other NHS hospitals, and provides defibrillators for schools and public spaces.
Published: by Radio NewsHub