FROM a council chief executive to a radio DJ, five more Oxfordshire residents were honoured at Windsor Castle.

The awards were presented by the Princess Royal and among the recipients was veteran Radio 2 host “Whispering” Bob Harris, who lives just outside Abingdon.

He was given an OBE for his 40 years behind the mic.

Mr Harris said: “It felt amazing and slightly surreal. It is fantastic to get the acknowledgement, but I don’t feel I have done anything to deserve it. I’ve just been playing records I love.

“I had a lovely conversation with Princess Anne because she listens to my programme on Radio 2. I half expected her to not really know who I am.”

Mr Harris has forged a career playing rock, country and folk music on radio, including a stint at BBC Radio Oxford in the 1980s and on BBC TV’s The Old Grey Whistle Test.

Peter Neyroud, former Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police and chief executive of the National Policing Imp-rovement Agency, was made a CBE. He said: “Twenty years policing is a long time and it was a pleasure to celebrate it beside my father, sister and aunt. My grandfather would have been proudest. He died when I was 16 and he is my strongest memory from my teenage years.”

Mr Neyroud, 52, TVP’s Chief Constable between 2002 and 2006, is now doing a doctorate in criminology at Cambridge University.

Others who received an honour included Joanna Simons, chief executive of Oxfordshire County Council since 2005, who was given a CBE.

She said: “This award is for everyone at the council who all work extremely hard for the residents of Oxfordshire.”

Prof Wendy James, a former professor of social anthropology at Oxford University, was given a CBE and Prof Richard Darton, former head of the Department of Engineering Science at the university, was given an OBE.