Guilty Pleasures
By Associated Press
Actor Carey Mulligan and author Kazuo Ishiguro on UK’s New Year Honors list
LONDON | Actors Carey Mulligan and Stephen Fry and author Kazuo Ishiguro were awarded New Year Honors on Monday that celebrate artists, athletes, politicians and others who make notable contributions to British society.
Mulligan, a winner of a British Academy of Film and Television Arts award for “An Education” and a three-time Oscar nominee, was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her services to drama.
Fry, known for the BBC comedy “Blackadder” and his former comedic partnership with Hugh Laurie, was knighted along with England’s former soccer manager Gareth Southgate and London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
More than 1,200 across the United Kingdom were honored in the semi-annual awards — with most going to those whose acts happen outside the spotlight cast on the famous and well known.
“Each and every day, ordinary people go out and do extraordinary things for their communities,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said. “They represent the very best of the U.K. … The New Year Honors List celebrates more of these unsung heroes, and I thank them for their incredible contribution.”
The awards given out by monarchs as part of orders of chivalry since the Middle Ages are now vetted by a government committee before being passed on to the prime minister and King Charles III.
Fry said he was “startled and enchanted” to receive the honor for his work raising awareness about mental health and the environment. The author of several books in addition to his screen work, he is also president of the mental health charity Mind and supporter of the conservation group Fauna and Flora International.
“I think of my childhood, and my dreadful unhappiness and misery and stupidity, and everything that led to so many failures as a child,” he said. “And for my parents, really, what a disaster. I mean every time the phone rang, they thought, ‘Oh, God, what has Stephen done now?’ It was a sort of joke in the family.”
Nobel Prize-winning novelist Ishiguro, who wrote “The Remains of the Day” and was previously knighted, was made a Companion of Honor for literature.
Three-time London mayor and the son of a bus driver who grew up in public housing and was previously elected to Parliament, Khan said he was “truly humbled” by the honor.
Khan has infuriated some motorists by expanding a policy that taxes drivers of higher-polluting vehicles and was the subject of a petition by a Conservative councilor opposing his knighthood that gathered 200,000 signatures this month.
In addition to Southgate, who led the Three Lions to the finals of Euro 2020 and 2024, and the semi-final of the 2018 World Cup, several athletes were recognized, particularly for Olympic successes.
Keely Hodgkinson, who won the gold medal in the 800 meter track race in Paris, and Dina Asher-Smith, a three-time Olympic medalist who was the 200 meter world champion in 2019, were honored as Members of the Order of the British Empire, or MBE.
Two-time Olympic mountain bike champ Tom Pidcock, who has also been cyclocross world champ and won major road cycling races, was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, or OBE.
The youngest recipients were Mikayla Beames, who was awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) for raising money for children with cancer, and swimmer William Ellard, two-time Paralympic gold medalist, made an MBE. Both are 18.
The oldest person was Colin Bell, 103, a World War II pilot awarded a BEM for public speaking and raising money for charity.
Final NBA viewership numbers for Christmas Day games slightly better than originally thought
NEW YORK | The final viewership numbers are in for the NBA’s five games on Christmas Day and they were even better than first thought, the league and ESPN announced Monday.
An average of 5.335 million viewers tuned in for the five games that spanned 13 hours on ESPN platforms, according to Nielsen, up slightly over the first projections from last week. That made it the most-watched Christmas slate of NBA games since 2019, the league said.
Viewership was up 87% over last Christmas’ games, with some of the five time slots seeing massive increases in the numbers over a year ago. The San Antonio-New York game, Victor Wembanyama’s Christmas debut for the Spurs, was the most-watched Christmas noon game in 13 years, averaging just under 5 million viewers — and was up 101% over last year.
The most-watched game was the 8 p.m. Eastern start between the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State, the LeBron James vs. Stephen Curry matchup that averaged 7.9 million viewers and peaked at just under 8.5 million viewers toward the finish. That was up 511% from the same Christmas timeslot a year ago.
Even the late game — a 10:30 p.m. Eastern start between Phoenix and Denver — set a Christmas record for that timeslot, averaging just under 3.9 million viewers.
Philadelphia’s win over Boston averaged 5.24 million viewers, and the Dallas-Minnesota game averaged 4.45 million viewers. Both were up slightly over the same timeslots in 2023.
Buoyed by the Christmas numbers, NBA viewership on ESPN’s platforms is up 5% through this point of last season, Nielsen said.
—From AP reports
