Rushdie 'humbled' by knighthood

Salman Rushdie, the controversial novelist who spent years under threat of death after an Iranian fatwa, said he was "thrilled and humbled" by the knighthood awarded to him in the Queen's Birthday Honours.

Also in the list, which contains an array of stars from sport, showbusiness, fashion, the arts and industry, are Oleg Gordievsky, the former Soviet spy who defected to Britain, cricketer Ian Botham, Dame Edna Everage's creator Barry Humphries and fund-raiser and terminal cancer sufferer Jane Tomlinson.

They share the limelight with hundreds of unknown "ordinary people" honoured for voluntary work and charity fundraising at what Downing Street describes as the "sharp end" of society.

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