Football icon Denis Law nets CBE in New Year's Honours list

Scottish football legend Denis Law has been recognised for his achievements on and off the field in the latest New Year's Honours list.

Published 31st Dec 2015

Scottish football legend Denis Law has been recognised for his achievements on and off the field in the latest New Year's Honours list.

The former Scotland forward, who played for Manchester United and Manchester City, receives a CBE for his services to football and charity in the 2016 list.

Aberdeen-born Law, now aged 75, is Scotland's joint record scorer with 30 goals in 55 internationals.

He began his playing career at Huddersfield Town in the mid 1950s and went on to spend most of his professional life in the north-west of England.

Law is best known for his 11 years playing for Manchester United, scoring 237 goals in 404 games.

He was named European footballer of the year in 1964, the only Scottish player to have won the award.

The retired striker has also been an active and high profile supporter of various charities close to his heart.

Law, who now lives in Cheshire, has long promoted Meningitis Now's message across the country after his son contracted the disease. He is a patron of the charity.

In 2012 he spoke at a charity lunch to help raise money for a new hospice building in Glasgow.

He recovered from a prostate cancer diagnosis more than a decade ago and since then has been vocal about the virtues of an early diagnosis.

Speaking in 2012, he said: When I was diagnosed it was the biggest shock in the world. I was scared and I couldn't understand why it had happened because I was a sportsman and I was fit.''

Law is one of about 130 Scots from all walks of life being recognised for their contribution in the 2016 list.

Paul Grice, the Scottish Parliament's clerk and chief executive, is being knighted.

He was recently involved in updating MSPs and staff over moves to remove a group of pro-independence campaigners who had pitched their tents on the land outside the Holyrood building, establishing a so-called Indy Camp''.

Receiving a knighthood for his efforts in the fight against the Ebola epidemic in west Africa is Dr Michael Jacobs, the clinical lead in infectious diseases at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, who treated Scots nurse Pauline Cafferkey.

Professor Steven Chapman, the former principal and vice-chancellor of Edinburgh's Heriot Watt University, picks up a CBE for services to higher education.

Also collecting a CBE is Catherine Dyer, chief executive of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, for her services to law and order.

Other CBE recipients include Mark McInnes, director of the Scottish Conservatives, and Marion Taylor, the chief dental officer for Scotland.

The list also provides a snapshot of the industry and enterprise taking place across Scotland.

James Banks, of Markinch, Fife, is awarded an MBE for services to bagpiping and voluntary service.

Linda Gorn, from Keith, Banffshire, also scoops an MBE for services to the local economy. She is chair of the Keith Kilt and Textile Centre.

Joining them with an MBE is David Stewart, of Netherlee in Glasgow, the master blender for William Grant and Sons Distillers.

The charitable work of a number of individuals is also recognised in the list.

Elgin's Benjamin Goss, chairman of Give Them a Sporting Chance and founder of the Chaffinch Trust, is given an OBE for services to people with disabilities and disadvantaged people at home and abroad.

Reverend Professor Kenneth Ross, chair of the Scotland Malawi Partnership, is also given an OBE.

Blanche Nicolson, of Symington in Ayrshire, gets an MBE for her work with the Hansel Group of charities for people with learning difficulties and their families.

The achievements of dozens of ordinary people are also recognised in the honours.

British Empire Medals go to to a number of people, including Janet Colquhoun, a crossing patrol warden at Dunrobin Primary School in Airdrie, and Thomas Stevenson, project manager of the Mull of Galloway trail.

The Queen's Police Medal has three Scots recipients this year - chief superintendents Eleanor Mitchell and Andrew Morris, and detective superintendent Louise Raphael of Police Scotland.