<div><p>Formula One champ Jenson Button and two veteran Status Quo rockers received gongs in the New Year's Honours List Thursday -- while bankers and lawmakers were almost absent after a year of shame.</p><p>Button, who emerged from compatriot Lewis Hamilton's shadow to win the 2009 F1 world championship, said becoming a Member of Order of the British Empire (MBE) was the "crowning glory" to the "most incredible" year of his life.</p><p>"I'm incredibly proud to have joined the likes of Mike Hawthorn, Graham Hill, Jim Clark, John Surtees, Sir Jackie Stewart, James Hunt, Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill and Lewis Hamilton as British Formula 1 world champion.</p><p>"But to be recognised by Her Majesty The Queen and the British people is a tremendous honour for me," said the 29-year-old.</p><p>Status Quo's Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt were awarded the OBE (Order of the British Empire) for a career including worldwide record sales of more than 118 million and a record-breaking 64 British hit singles.</p><p>Singer-guitarist Parfitt, 61, said he and Rossi, 60, were delighted with the accolade after four decades on the stage -- and he wondered if his rock and roll lifestyle had spoiled his chances in the past.</p><p>"I had kind of given up hoping. Particularly with my wild past -- if they'd reviewed some of my old newspaper cuttings," he said.</p><p>Rossi said the letter announcing the honour "frightened the pants off me... because it comes from the government," but admitted: "You start off rebellious, a teenager in a band, but you end up being part of the establishment."</p><p>Knighthoods were awarded to "Star Trek" actor Patrick Stewart and Scottish rugby international-turned-Lions coach Ian McGeechan.</p><p>Stewart said he was "very proud" to be knighted, while McGeechan dedicated the honour to his family.</p><p>Dr Claire Bertschinger, whose appearances in BBC television reports on the 1984 Ethiopian famine inspired Bob Geldof to organise the Live Aid concert, was made a dame for services to nursing and to international humanitarian aid.</p><p>She said it was "an enormous honour", adding: "I couldn't believe it when I saw the letter -- I thought it was from the taxman."</p><p>The man who made Button's success possible, Brawn Grand Prix team owner Ross Brawn, was honoured with an OBE for 30 years of service to motorsport.</p><p>Erich Reich, 74, a tour operator from London, was knighted for his charity work, including his role as chairman of the Kindertransport Group of the Association of Jewish Refugees.</p><p>From the world of literature, children's author Dick King-Smith, who wrote the book that became the 1995 hit film "Babe", was awarded an OBE.</p><p>Elsewhere in the sporting world, Beth Tweddle, a newly crowned gymnastics world champion, said her MBE came as a "total shock".</p><p>Former England football captain Jimmy Armfield said he was "surprised and grateful" for his CBE for his community work in his home county of Lancashire in northwest England.</p><p>Cressida Dick, the police officer who masterminded the botched operation which led to the fatal shooting of innocent Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes in 2005, was given the lesser honour of the Queen's Police Medal.</p><p>But the list of major honours included not a single British lawmaker -- who have been left reeling from an expenses scandal -- and only one banker, a profession whose image was severely dented by the near financial meltdown.</p><p>"It is revealing that this year?s has no politicians and few businessmen," commented the Times. "Instead, sportsmen and entertainers have stepped into the breach.</p><p>"On this year?s evidence, honouring entertainers has become the new status quo," it added.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=66175437&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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