New Year Honours 2025: Headteacher James Biddulph and Olympic rower Imogen Grant given MBEs
Members of the Order of the British Empire
The former headteacher of the University of Cambridge Primary School, Dr James Biddulph, has been awarded an MBE for services to education.
The 48-year-old started his career in education in the foothills of Nepal following a degree in English and music from the University of Durham and said he was “very surprised” to receive the honour.
James, who was born in Zimbabwe and grew up in Kent, came up to Cambridge to do his PGCE at the Faculty of Education in 2000. Following his PGCE, Dr Biddulph worked in Stratford, East London, where his passion for music, the arts and creativity led him to being awarded the London Outstanding New Teacher of the Year in 2003.
His first deputy headship was in a failing inner city school which was turned around within 18 months. He then joined another failing school, also successfully removed from ‘special measures’, before becoming the first headteacher of Avanti Court Primary School in Ilford. Dr Biddulph was the founding headteacher of the University of Cambridge Primary School in 2015, which was rated outstanding in 2018. He stepped down from the role in December 2023.
During his tenure, the school grew to its full capacity as a three-form entry primary school with early years provision. He is CEO designate at the Avanti Schools Trust and will take over the role as CEO of the trust from June 2025.
He said: “Part of me thinks I just enjoy doing my job, and so it doesn’t feel like I need recognition...But it’s very good for the school. I’m very pleased – I’m honoured for my previous team as well.”
Imogen Grant, Olympic gold medallist, receives an MBE for services to rowing.
Imogen and rowing partner Emily Craig stormed to victory in the lightweight women’s double sculls at the Paris Olympics this summer, having missed out on a spot on the podium at the Tokyo games by one-hundredth of a second.
Three-time Boat Race winner Ms Grant was born in Cambridge in 1996 and raised in Bar Hill. Ms Grant, a junior doctor, was introduced to rowing during her first year of studying medicine at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 2014, and only got into a boat because Trinity’s Boat Club offered a free drink to freshers who signed up for a taster session. She is the first female alumna of Trinity to win an Olympic medal.
A changemaker on and off the hockey pitch, Team GB Olympian and England Hockey Tessa Howard (known as Tess) has been honoured for services to inclusive sportswear for women and girls. Tessa, who receives an MBE, advocates for female players to have a choice to wear skorts or shorts after research she conducted showed that many women and girls stop playing sport due to issues with clothing.
In March 2023, she founded Inclusive Sportswear CIC.
A serious knee injury saw her miss the Tokyo 2020 Olympics but she returned stronger than ever, scoring in the final to help England win the 2022 Commonwealth Games gold in Birmingham. In Paris 2024, she helped Team GB to a quarter-final appearance.
George Kelly, 101, from St Ives, has been awarded an MBE for voluntary services to the Royal British Legion and to Royal Air Force Veterans. Mr Kelly had a distinguished career as an RAF navigator which spanned 40 years and took part in operations in the Second World War, the Berlin Airlift and the Suez Crisis, and was awarded the Air Force Medal.
Dr Lam Lei Bonnie Kwok, from Huntingdon, headteacher of London Hackney Chinese Community School, has been honoured with an MBE for services to education.
Daniel Schumann, 43, receives an MBE for services to community theatre in Cambridgeshire. Daniel created VIVA! Youth Theatre for the children of Soham when he was aged 16 in 1997. Since then the group has helped hundreds of children and young people to develop their artistic skills as well as their self-confidence and personalities.
John Dudley Watkinson, of Huntingdon, chair of Vistage International, has received an MBE for services to business
Food writer and journalist Beatrice Dorothy ‘Bee’ Wilson has been honoured for services to food writing and food education. Bee, who lives in Cambridge, writes the Table Talk column in The Wall Street Journal. Her prize-winning book on the psychology of eating, First Bite, was published in 2015.
