Michael Palin, Thandie Newton and Gareth Southgate among those named in New Year’s Honours list

• Michael Palin on his journey through North Korea: "once we got there the anxieties fell away"
• Sign up for the free RadioTimes.com newsletter

"I have been a knight before with my Monty Python colleagues but I suppose this is the real thing," Palin joked of the honour, while Pullman added "It's a huge surprise and a great pleasure."

1960s icon Twiggy, meanwhile (real name Lesley Lawson) was recognised for services to fashion, charity and the arts by being named a Dame alongside Harper’s Bazaar editor Glenda Bailey.

"I haven't quite touched the ground since I found out," Twiggy said.

Chris Packham, has been awarded a CBE alongside Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, children’s author Julia Donaldson (who was already an MBE), Dunkirk and Inception director Christopher Nolan and actor Sophie Okonedo.

Westworld and Line of Duty star Thandie Newton, meanwhile, receives an OBE in the New Year’s Honours list alongside Downton Abbey’s Jim Carter and illustrator and author Chris Riddell.

All very impressive, of course – but author Margaret Atwood received a particular honour by being inducted into the Order of the Companions of Honour, a special award only held by 65 people at any one time.

Other well-known figures honoured include England manager Gareth Southgate, who receives an OBE and England Captain Harry Kane who picks up an MBE, as well as Welsh cyclist Geraint Thomas, who receives an OBE.

Three British divers who helped rescue a youth football team trapped in caves in Thailand were also among the 1,148 honoured, picking up MBEs for their heroic actions.

The full list of recipients can be read here.