Morse Morsels

As Chris Sullivan, an authority on the fiction of Colin Dexter, notes in his blog, this month marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Dexter’s first Inspector Morse novel, Last Bus to Woodstock. (Scroll down in that post to find his video presentation on the subject.)

So now is the perfect time for Kevin Whatley—who played Robert “Robbie” Lewis, Morse’s police sidekick in the 1987-1993 UK series Inspector Morse, and later became the star of his own show, Lewis—to be awarded the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE). As an article in the Oxford Mail reports, “The 73-year-old, who lives near Milton Keynes, said he was delighted to receive the OBE for services to drama and charity. The screen star added he was ‘grateful and delighted’ by the honour and appreciated that actors could ‘help to raise awareness and money for charities.’”

Also among this new year’s OBE recipients are London mayor Sadiq Khan, actor-author Stephen Fry, and Labour politician Emily Thornberry.