Watford Grammar School for Girls head teacher Helen Hyde became a dame for services to education and the former chief executive of Hertfordshire County Council, Caroline Tapster, was appointed CBE for services to local government.

BBC: Laura Trott

The related, and peculiarly British, appetite for nit-picking also reared its head with Lynne Truss's bad grammar diatribe Eats, Shoots and Leaves.

BBC: News - The noughties in literature