Christopher Lee to get knighthood

LONDON, June 12 (UPI) -- Christopher Lee, the 87-year-old British veteran of more than 200 movies, is to receive a knighthood, the government announced Friday.

The Queen's Birthday Honors list includes hundreds of people. They range from Lee and other celebrities to people who have demonstrated skill and caring in other walks of life, The Independent reported.

Esme Maxwell, is to receive an MBE for services to aviation. Maxwell, who works on the airport information desk in Belfast, used first aid to save a baby's life.

Lee -- who starred in a series of horror films as Dracula, Fu Manchu and other classic characters in the 1960s -- acquired a new generation of fans when he played Saruman in "The Lord of the Rings." He will be knighted for services to drama.

Two poets are on the list for knighthoods. Andrew Motion is the former poet laureate, while Christopher Ricks is retiring this year as a professor at Oxford.

Also up for a knighthood is Paul Grant, a head teacher who turned a school in Barking and Dagenham, Essex, from one of the worst in the country to one of the best.

No politicians made the cut this year, presumably fallout from the expenses scandal in Parliament, the report said.