Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian, nicknamed "Mr Five Per Cent", was a British-Armenian businessman and philanthropist. He played a major role in making the petroleum reserves of the Middle East available to Western development and is credited with being the first person to exploit Iraqi oil. Gulbenkian travelled extensively and lived in a number of cities including Istanbul, London, Paris and Lisbon.
The British School at Rome (BSR) is an interdisciplinary research centre supporting the arts, humanities and architecture.
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, commonly referred to simply as the Gulbenkian Foundation, is a Portuguese institution dedicated to the promotion of the arts, philanthropy, science, and education. One of the wealthiest charitable foundations in the world, the Gulbenkian Foundation was founded on 18 July 1956 according to the last will and testament of Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian, a Portugal-based oil magnate who bequeathed his assets to the country in the form of a foundation.
Richard Stuart Best, Baron Best,, is a British social housing leader and member of the House of Lords.
Robert Alwyn Petrie Hewison is a British cultural historian.
Margaret Omolola Young, Baroness Young of Hornsey is a British actress, author, crossbench peer, and Chancellor of the University of Nottingham.
Dame Eileen Louise Younghusband, DBE was internationally known for her research and teaching in the field of social work.
Maurice Riordan is an Irish poet, translator, and editor.
The Soviet sale of Hermitage paintings in 1930 and 1931 resulted in the departure of some of the most valuable paintings from the collection of the State Hermitage Museum in Leningrad to Western museums. Several of the paintings had been in the Hermitage Collection since its creation by Empress Catherine the Great. About 250 paintings were sold, including masterpieces by Jan van Eyck, Titian, Rembrandt, Rubens, Raphael, and other important artists. Andrew Mellon donated the twenty-one paintings he purchased from the Hermitage to the United States government in 1937, which became the nucleus of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Nubar Sarkis Gulbenkian was an Armenian-British business magnate and socialite born in the Ottoman empire. During World War II, he helped organize the underground network that would become known as the Pat O'Leary Line to repatriate British airmen who became stranded in France.
Sir Kenneth Aphunezi Olisa is a British businessman and philanthropist. He is the first mixed heritage Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London. He founded and led the AIM-listed technology merchant bank Interregnum and now leads Restoration Partners. Ken Olisa is Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists and has served and serves on several boards of philanthropic, educational and regulator organisations. Sir Kenneth with his wife endowed the Olisa Library at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.
Peter Neilson Brinson was a British writer and lecturer on dance. At various times he was a film-maker, writer, and academic, and did much to raise the profile of dance education in Britain and elsewhere.
Gulbenkian Prize is a series of prizes awarded annually by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. The main Gulbenkian Prize was established in 1976 as the Gulbenkian Science Prize awarded to Portuguese individuals and organizations.
Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Roy Holcroft is an English retired soldier and banker who served as Lord-Lieutenant of Worcestershire, the British monarch's personal representative in the county from 2012 to 2023.
Penelope Curtis is a British art historian and curator. Fom 2015 to 2020 she was the director of Lisbon's Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, and from 2010 to 2015 director of Tate Britain. She is the author of several monographs on sculpture and has written widely at the invitation of contemporary artists.
Sir Andrew Valentine Morris Hon FRCP is a former British hospital administrator who is currently a non-executive director of NHS Improvement.
Patrick Philip Vernon is a British social commentator and political activist of Jamaican heritage, who works in the voluntary and public sector. He is a former Labour councillor in the London Borough of Hackney. His career has been involved with developing and managing health and social care services, including mental health, public health, regeneration and employment projects. Also a film maker and amateur cultural historian, he runs his own social enterprise promoting the history of diverse communities, as founder of Every Generation and the "100 Great Black Britons" campaign. He is also an expert on African and Caribbean genealogy in the UK. He was appointed a Clore Fellow in 2007, an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for "services to the Reduction of Health Inequalities for Ethnic Minorities", and in 2018 was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Wolverhampton.
Naseem Fatima Khan was a British journalist, activist, cultural historian and educator who was influential in effecting policy change about cultural diversity.
Maria Adebowale-Schwarte is the Founding Director of Living Space Project. She is a commissioner for the London Sustainable Development Commission and for the English Heritage.
As part of the British honours system, Special Honours are issued at the Monarch's pleasure at any given time. The Special Honours refer to the awards made within royal prerogative, operational honours, political honours and other honours awarded outside the New Years Honours and Birthday Honours.
