16 Newcastle University alumni recognised in King’s Birthday Honours
Huge congratulations to the Newcastle University graduates who have been named in King Charles III’s 2026 Birthday Honours list, acknowledging their dedication and success in their respective fields.
17 June 2026
Charlie Webster MBE (BA English Language and Linguistics, 2004)
Language and Linguistics graduate Charlie Webster is a renowned TV and radio broadcaster, journalist and podcast producer. In the King’s Birthday Honours, she was awarded an MBE for services to broadcasting and charity.
Charlie was the first woman to present football in Asia at just 23 and later the first female globally to anchor a Heavyweight World Title Fight. She has also covered major global events like the London Olympic and Paralympic Games and the FIFA World Cup across TV and radio. Charlie is also an active campaigner and speaker. She is the creator and host of podcast Undiscussable, a podcast series focused on domestic abuse, and earlier this year was nominated for an Emmy for the ABC documentary series Scamanda, based on her investigative podcast of the same name.
Sir Chris is a journalist, author and former Labour MP for Sunderland South. As a journalist in the 1980s, he led a campaign that resulted in the release of the Birmingham Six, victims of a miscarriage of justice. He has published four novels, including A Very British Coup which was later adapted for television. Serving as a Member of Parliament from 1987 until 2010, Chris also served as Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee and as a Minister in the Department for Environment, Transport and the Regions, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and in the Department for International Development.
Sir Chris was made an Honorary Doctor of Law at Newcastle University in 2011, in recognition of his campaigns for justice and the environment, and today is a Visiting Lecturer in our Politics department.
Dr David Bonnett FRIBA OBE (BA Hons Arts, 1969)
Class of 1969 alumnus David Bonnett is the founder and managing director of independent architectural access consultancy David Bonnett Associates. He has been made an OBE in this year’s Birthday Honours for services to architecture and inclusive design.
David is a consultant architect with a background in both local authority and private practice. He has run architectural projects from inception to completion for housing, offices and public buildings. During fourteen years in local authority, he pioneered many aspects of accessible design, acted as advisor on the implementation of access standards and contributed to an innovative design guide on the subject. In 1994 David completed a PhD on ‘Design Effectiveness for People with Severe Disabilities’. This, as well as his personal knowledge of disability, has made David a leading figure on the subject.
Today, David is Visiting Professor to the Department of Architecture, Oxford Brookes University, a Design Council/CABE Built Environment Expert (BEE) and is on the design review panels for the London Legacy Development Corporation and other major projects.
Dominic Llewellyn OBE (BA Hons Politics and Economics, 2007)
Politics and Economics graduate Dominic Llewellyn is the co-founder of AchieveGood and Accelerayt. He has been awarded an OBE for services to the Impact Economy.
Since graduating from Newcastle almost 20 years ago, Dominic has grown his entrepreneurial career and established impactful partnerships with governments, corporates, and non-profits worth over £800m to deliver positive social and environmental change.
AchieveGood helps philanthropists, investors, and purpose-driven businesses partner with each other, places and government to enable social, environmental, and financial impact. During the Covid-19 pandemic, AchieveGood facilitated an initiative that provided 2.8 million meals to those in need. And as Accelerayt’s CEO, Dominic supports nonprofits in the UK and US to address software developer talent shortages by connecting them with exceptional, ready-to-go senior-level developers from emerging tech hubs.
Reverend Glyn Evans MBE (PGCE, 1988)
Newcastle alumnus Reverend Glyn Evans has been appointed an MBE in recognition of services to the community in Morpeth.
Glyn has served as a Police Chaplain for Northumbria Police for nearly 25 years, as well as serving the city centre parish – and even Newcastle United footballers! In 2011, Glyn – who has supported NUFC for decades and is a qualified referee – was appointed as the official chaplain of the club.
In his role at Northumbria Police, Glyn played a part in establishing Police Chaplaincy as a more structured and recognised body nationwide. While he stepped back from full‑time parish ministry two years ago, today he continues his chaplaincy work with the police, as well as his role as Chaplain for the Deaf in the Diocese of Newcastle.
Dr John Blakeley MBE (MA English Literature, 1998; PhD English Literature, 2002)
A Newcastle graduate twice over, John Blakeley is a senior political advisor for the Department for Education and has been awarded an MBE this year for services to higher education.
John has held an advisory role within the Department for Education since 2016, specialising in higher education student accommodation, admissions and student experience. Before this, he was a Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of St Mark & St John in Plymouth.
Having focused his Literature studies on the Renaissance period while on campus, as an academic, John’s main research interest was the commercialisation of literature in the late- Elizabethan period, with a particular focus on Shakespeare, as well as the writing careers of the ‘University Wits’, Marlowe, Nashe, Lodge and Greene.
Now a consultant at University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (UHNM), based at Royal Stoke Hospital, Karen has received the honour in recognition of her commitment to tackling health inequalities, particularly among children and young people.
Alongside her clinical work, she has led a pioneering public health movement through the ‘Keep Stoke Smiling’ and ‘Keep Britain Smiling’ campaigns. What began as a local initiative has grown into a nationally recognised programme, bringing together healthcare, education and sport to engage young people and families in new and innovative ways. In 2022, Karen was awarded an NHS Hero Award in recognition of the ‘Keep Stoke Smiling’ initiative.
The work has focused on prevention, early intervention and education, helping to address oral health inequalities and ensuring that key messages reach those who need them most.
Dame Malorie Blackman (Hon Dlitt, 2017)
Distinguished author and honorary Newcastle University graduate Malorie Blackman was awarded a damehood in this year’s King’s Birthday Honours.
Over the course of her life, Dame Malorie has published over 60 novels and is perhaps best known for her dystopian young adult series, Noughts and Crosses, which was made into a TV series by the BBC. Another adaptation of her work, Pig Heart Boy, won a BAFTA in 2000 for Best Drama.
Malorie’s achievements as a writer have been recognised by numerous awards and prizes. In 2008, she was awarded an OBE for services to Children’s Literature and five years later, she became the eighth Children’s Laureate. During her term of office, Malorie initiated a Young Adult Literature Convention and Project Remix, inspiring teenagers to come up with their own creative responses to books written by established authors.
As a writer, Malorie has consciously embraced challenging topics such as bullying, teenage pregnancy, gang violence, drugs and racism, to reflect what teenagers face in the real world. Whilst she is unflinching in her portrayal of these issues, never sugar coating them, she believes in “hopefully ever after”, and there is a strong moral ethos to her work.
Having trained as a social worker on campus, Margaret embarked on a career in social care – rising to become Safeguarding Adults Manager at Newcastle City Council. Her involvement with the Girl Guides began in childhood when she joined the Brownies, but she first volunteered after graduating to gain experience working with children on her way to becoming a social worker. Now retired, today Margaret is Girlguiding Northumberland County Adviser and Berwick-Upon-Tweed Division Secretary.
She has worked in service to Girlguiding at a national level from 1989 to 2013. This included developing international experiences, supporting community-based projects and training volunteers to deliver high-quality guiding in their local areas.
Neil Heslop CBE (LLB Law, 1988)
Newcastle Law School graduate Neil Heslop has been awarded a CBE in the King’s Birthday Honours for services to philanthropy and charity.
Neil is the co-founder of the charity Blind in Business, helping people who are blind or partially sighted into work, and is Chief Executive of the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), a role he has held since 2020. With over a century of experience, CAF connects donors, charities, and our strategic partners to accelerate progress in society towards a fair and sustainable future for all. In 2024/25, CAF facilitated over £1.2 billion in donations to social purpose organisations worldwide.
Blind in Business was co-founded by Neil and two other visually impaired graduates in 1992 to tackle the struggles visually impaired people found in seeking employment. The charity helps blind and partially sighted students into employment by offering free training and support.
Dr Neville Hollingworth BEM (BSc Geology, 1983)
Class of 1983 graduate Neville Hollingworth has been made a Medallist of the Order of the British Empire (BEM) for services to public engagement and accessibility in geology and palaeontology.
Dr Hollingworth is a keen field geologist and acknowledged authority on British Jurassic Stratigraphy and associated marine biotas. He is also an honorary research associate at the University of Birmingham and has made several significant fossil discoveries across the UK.
Neville is a keen public engagement practitioner and member of the Institute of Physics High Energy Particle Physics Committee, the Royal Astronomical Society and the Education and Communication Committee. He is also a keen scuba diver and underwater photographer and has won international underwater photography competitions.
Peter McCleave OBE (BSc Physiology, 1999)
Physiology alumnus Peter McCleave has been awarded an OBE for services to blood cancer awareness and charity.
Peter was diagnosed with myeloma, an incurable blood cancer, in 2017 at the age of 39. Because of his Macanese genetic heritage – combined with English and Irish ancestry – finding a stem cell donor match has proved difficult for Peter. This has prompted him to dedicate the past decade to increasing the number of stem cell donors around the world, particularly those from ethnic minorities.
Through the 10,000 Donors initiative, Peter has inspired over 110,000 new people joining the national register for potential stem cell donors, and he has also raised over £50,000 to support cutting-edge research into myeloma.
Rhiannon Hiles CBE (MA Museum Studies, 1999)
Class of 1999 alumna Rhiannon Hiles is the chief executive of Beamish, The Living Museum of the North in Durham. She has been made a CBE this year for services to museums and to the culture and heritage of North East England.
Rhiannon first joined Beamish in 1995 as a volunteer and engager and went on to make Beamish her career. Over the past 30 years she has risen through the ranks in the regional institution, becoming CEO in 2021 and today leading the museum’s team of 520 staff and 400 volunteers.
Since taking the helm, Rhiannon has guided the museum through major expansion projects and regeneration, majorly impacting on the tourism, skills and economy of the region. Under her leadership, the open-air site was named Art Fund Museum of the Year in 2025.
Chief Superintendent Richard Padwell KPM (BA Hons Politics, 1993)
Politics graduate Richard Padwell has been awarded the King’s Police Medal in this year’s Birthday Honours for demonstrating a “specially distinguished record in policing, marked by his exceptional ability and merit”.
Currently serving as Bradford’s district commander, Chief Supt Padwell has over 30 years’ service in policing, with a particularly strong record in partnership working and safeguarding vulnerable people. As a superintendent, he played a pivotal role in transforming the city’s Child Safeguarding Partnership and embedding early action teams to support young people and divert them away from crime.
As a member of the Jewish community, Richard has strengthened the Jewish voice across policing, advising senior police leaders nationally and increasing community confidence.
Ruth Sunderland is one of the UK’s leading business journalists, with over 30 years’ experience as a financial journalist. Throughout her career, Ruth has been Business and Media Editor of the Observer, City Editor of the Mail on Sunday, Business Editor of the Daily Mail and is now Group Business Editor of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday.
Ruth was diagnosed with the bone disease after an accident in 2023 while training for a half marathon. Since then, she has fought to raise awareness of the condition, spearheading the ‘War on Osteoporosis’ campaign by The Mail on Sunday and taking on the role of Business Ambassador for the Royal Osteoporosis Society. Her work has been credited with securing a Government commitment to roll out fracture liaison services to all areas of England by 2030.
Samuel Boardman MBE (BEng Mechanical Engineering, 2018)
Class of 2018 graduate Samuel Boardman, a specialist engineer from Hereford, has been awarded a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to defence.
Is someone missing?
We’re thrilled to celebrate the achievements of our alumni community, but often rely on the information we have available on our alumni database. If you or someone you know was recently recognised in the King’s Birthday Honours and isn’t mentioned above, please let us know so we can shout about you from the rooftops!