Honoured

The BBC usually counts on four gongs in most honours lists. So tonight we have awards for Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet; the head of the BBC's Burmese service, Tin Htar Swe; the Director of Sport, Barbara Slater; and the boss of BBC Media Action, Caroline Nursey.

But there's more: Kenneth MacIver, or more properly Coinneach MacÌomhair, drivetime presenter from Stornoway on BBC Radio nan Gaidheal, gets the OBE. And there is also an honour for Julie Gardner, now described as Senior Vice President, Scripted Projects, BBC Worldwide America, where she's been since 2009, but really, the woman who revived Dr Who at BBC Wales. The BBC will also probably 'claim' another Welsh lady, Cerys Matthews, now with 6Music and making all sorts of BBC features.

More tangentially, Fiona Ritchie, a Scottish broadcaster now best known for The Thistle & Shamrock, a weekly Celtic music show on NPR, also has connections with BBC Scotland. Agent Jonathan Shalit looks after Gregg Wallace, Karren Brady, as well as EastEnders Ronnie and Roxy. Previous BBC drama regimes would not have let Dame Maggie Smith, now chosen as a Companion of Honour, into the hands of ITV; she can have a chat about that with fellow Companions Lord Patten and Lord Coe....