Retired BBC Radio 4 broadcaster Sue MacGregor and writer Sebastian Faulks are among those to receive the CBE. Fashion designer Caroline Charles and actor David Suchet are given an OBE.

Others featuring on the list are theatre director Trevor Nunn, playwright Harold Pinter and former newspaper editor Max Hastings.

Lesser-known people to be honoured include Molly Badham, director of Twycross Zoo, and headteacher Robert Dowling.

What do you think of the birthday honours list? Who would you like to see nominated next time round?

This debate is now closed. Read a selection of your comments below.

Your reaction

This does not cheapen the honours system in the slightest

James King, England

There is no reason whatsoever why Mick Jagger should not be awarded a knighthood. These awards are not meant to reward moral rectitude. They are meant to honour those who have reached the highest level in their chosen field. Mr Jagger is no less entitled to such an honour than Jonathan Miller or Bobby Robson, since he certainly has achieved this. This does not cheapen the honours system in the slightest.
James King, England

Re Sir Mick. I would like to nominate my cat Stouffer for a knighthood. He's old, grizzled, makes a dreadful noise, and has fathered many children.
Glyn Roughsedge, UK

I think people who already get paid gratuitously for what they do in the public eye should NOT receive honours. We seem to have forgotten the daily toil of ordinary public workers, like teachers who rarely receive such honours.
Cal, UK

I was delighted that the work of David Suchet was honoured. Mick Jagger too, who has put so much spirit in his performances over the years was long overdue for this honour.
Victor Rubin, UK/USA

I fid it very sad that people like Sean Connery and Mick Jagger can spend their lives attacking 'the Establishment' and then accept honours.
Jamie, Scotland

We should consider Keith Richard, for services to rehab clinics. My Mother's goldfish which can swim upside down and myself who can whistle the National Anthem backwards whilst walking a tightrope forwards and vice versa.
Kevin B, UK in US

Sure he's been a bad boy

Roy Jamieson, Australia

I think it's fantastic that Jagger has made the grade. Sure he's been a bad boy. But I guarantee if you weed through Burkes Peerage you'll find unsavoury characters that would leave Jagger smelling of roses.
Roy Jamieson, Australia

Just read some more on the honours list. Seems you can get a knighthood if you "curry" favour with the right people!!
Eric Birrell, South Africa

They held up Sean Connery's honour because he was outspoken about Scottish independence, now they're giving an honour to someone with an admitted drug history... as said elsewhere. These honours no longer have any real meaning, so demeaning for those who have worked really hard, without profit, for society, to see an overpaid "celebrity" get a knighthood when they have to settle for OBEs....
Susan, UK/USA

It is clear that the honours system is completely morally bankrupt

Michael Adam, UK

I think it is great that Mick Jagger has been knighted. In the past honours have been given out to multi-millionaire rock stars and actors under the flimsy pretext that they have done something worthwhile for charity. Now that Jagger has been knighted it is clear that the honours system is completely morally bankrupt.
Michael Adam, UK

Nobody deserves a knighthood more than Bobby Robson, a true gentleman and a skilled manager - perfect timing.
Rob Lawson, UK

Honouring Mick Jagger with a knighthood is simply ridiculous. It looks as if the Crown has become obsessed with the type of star-obsessed behaviour that Number 10 did long ago. The honour should have been given to Jerry Hall, for putting up with Mick's nonsense all these years. Dame Hall, is what I say.
Bob von, England

He is a talented fellow but sadly people associate Mr Jagger with his escapades with members of the female sex

Heidi Erlichman, England

Why on earth do the highest honours go to those who are already more than well-known?
Steve Smith, UK

For Mick Jagger to get a Knighthood, for services to popular music is diabolical. Yes, he is a talented fellow in that sense, but the escapades in his personal life, far outweigh his professional life. And, sadly, that's what people associate Mr Jagger with: his escapades with members of the female sex.
Heidi Erlichman, Nottingham, England

There was only one knighthood that was truly deserved in the list, that of Bobby Robson for his 50 year contribution to the beautiful game! A fantastic manager, and a gentleman, Arise Sir Bobby, Richly deserved!
Phillip Porteous, Cumbria

There was a time when this list was important, and it was an honour when such things were bestowed. Sadly we now see all and sundry being given all sorts of honours, and that means that it is now cheapened, and, in my view, rather tacky. I believe that the number of honours should be drastically cut so that their worth improves.

We need to see a restoration of the decency which once surrounded such things as this. And, while I am highly unlikely to ever be honoured, one could respect the ones who are. It seems to be getting so bad now that it is an honour NOT to have a title. One does not, after all, want to just be one of the crowd.
J.W.Hughes, UK

The only reason he was given a knighthood is because he is a friend of Tony Blair's who was crazy about this rocker when the latter was a university student.

Kaye Canada

I do feel that these honours are a damp squib considering they are "golden jubilee" honours. I remember the millennium honours being much higher profile. Perhaps we are just running out of worthy recipients.
Richard Batchelor, Wales

It makes a nonsense of the knighthoods to see people like Jagger receive this title. I want to hear more about the honest hard working and charitable people in our country and to see their like get proper recognition for their life's work.
D. Taylor, UK

Those receiving Knighthoods are supposed to be of the highest calibre morally, and one can't really attribute those characteristics to Mick Jagger. The only reason he was given a knighthood is because he is a friend of Tony Blair's who was crazy about this rocker when the latter was a university student.
Kaye, Canada

Mick Jagger? I don't get it. I thought there were some rules. Either the Establishment has sold out or he has. I'd respect him a lot more if he refused the knighthood, and I'd respect the government a lot more if they had some principles to stick to.

He's a great artist, but he has been for at least 35 years. And since when has talent alone been a qualification for a knighthood? He doesn't live in the UK and he doesn't pay UK taxes - isn't that supposed to make him ineligible for honours?
Bewildered, UK

Arise Sir Bobby - a long time overdue

Alan Hunter England

Media and show biz folk go into their choice of profession because (I assume) its something they wanted to do, they are usually handsomely rewarded for it once famous, so why (apart from ego satisfaction) do they need Honours as well. It's not as if they've discovered some life saving drug or stopped a famine, Jagger has spent his life railing against things in song, but turns out to be a hypocrite in real life. If these people weren't around the world wouldn't be a poorer place for it.
Steve Chisholm, U.K.

Arise Sir Bobby. A long time overdue.
Alan Hunter, England

So Mick Jagger is "delighted" to be given a knighthood. Pass the sick bag, please! It makes me want to puke when "anti establishment" rock stars of Jagger's ilk sell out like this. This is the guy who has made a career out of being - or pretending to be - an anarchist (not to mention an antichrist). Now, having amassed his fortune, this phoney rebel has revealed himself to be every bit as "straight" and conservative as the people he purported to despise all these years. Come back John Lennon, all is forgiven!
Zak Martin, Ireland

Although I do have reservations about the continued relevance of an honours system, I do recognise that it is a good way to acknowledge exceptional contributions to the country. Therefore, I don't feel that media and music stars very often deserve them. I would like to see more 'ordinary' people celebrated.

There is no balance between true service to your country and fellow man and being already fortunate enough to be in the right level of society

Martyn Ralph England

Teachers, doctors, nurses and other public sector workers are frequently attacked in the press, but very rarely celebrated. To me, the teachers who have shaped the lives of so many deserve the accolades. I am just finishing my first year at university, surrounded by people who would be nowhere if it weren't for their teachers - but because of them have the chance to change the world.
HL, Britain

Including the director of Huntingdon Life Sciences and a prominent Labour party donor demeans the honours system and detracts from the honours given to those who deserve them.
Sue Marsh, England

The honours system in principle is still valid, even in today's society. The only negative is still the system is biased in favour of those of the "elite" or celebrity status. So a football manager gets a knighthood for doing a job which is high profile, well paid, respected (among football fans) and a queue of people would be willing to do yet, those individuals who give tireless service, in the jobs that not only people don't want but when they do are paid a pittance are lucky to get a "gong".

This is still an example of what's wrong with the honours system. There is no balance between true service to your country and fellow man and being already fortunate enough to be in the right level of society.

As for Mick Jagger's comments re the England team, case in point, highly paid, highly rated yet if they win this tournament doing that thankless task of "playing a game of football" they should be knighted? It's a funny old world (or should that be game.)
Martyn Ralph, England