David Beckham and Gary Oldman Awarded Knighthoods

FILE PHOTO: David Beckham shakes hands with Britain's King Charles, next to Meryl Streep, as they attend the King's Foundation Awards ceremony, on the 35th anniversary of The King’s Foundation, at St James's Palace, in London, Britain, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Chris J. Ratcliffe/Pool/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: David Beckham shakes hands with Britain's King Charles, next to Meryl Streep, as they attend the King's Foundation Awards ceremony, on the 35th anniversary of The King’s Foundation, at St James's Palace, in London, Britain, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Chris J. Ratcliffe/Pool/File Photo
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David Beckham and Gary Oldman Awarded Knighthoods

FILE PHOTO: David Beckham shakes hands with Britain's King Charles, next to Meryl Streep, as they attend the King's Foundation Awards ceremony, on the 35th anniversary of The King’s Foundation, at St James's Palace, in London, Britain, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Chris J. Ratcliffe/Pool/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: David Beckham shakes hands with Britain's King Charles, next to Meryl Streep, as they attend the King's Foundation Awards ceremony, on the 35th anniversary of The King’s Foundation, at St James's Palace, in London, Britain, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Chris J. Ratcliffe/Pool/File Photo

Former England soccer captain David Beckham and actor Gary Oldman were knighted in King Charles' annual birthday honors list on Saturday, while sculptor Antony Gormley was made a Companion of Honor.

Beckham, 50, joined Manchester United as a trainee in 1993, going on to make almost 400 appearances for the club where he won a string of titles and cups.
He subsequently played for Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, and Inter Milan, as well as captaining his country 58 times and making 115 appearances.

His marriage to fashion designer and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham in 1999 cemented a celebrity status which went far beyond his sporting exploits.

Oldman, 67, started his career on the stage, where he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, before rising to prominence in film. He won the best actor Oscar for playing Winston Churchill in the 2017 drama "Darkest Hour".

He also had roles in the "Dark Knight Trilogy" and the "Harry Potter" movie series and more recently starred in the TV spy drama "Dark Horses".

Other famous names receiving honors included damehoods for musical theatre star Elaine Paige, novelist Pat Barker and ceramics maker Emma Bridgewater.

Roger Daltrey, lead singer of rock band the Who and a patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust, received a knighthood for services to charity.

More than 1,200 people received honors for their achievements, with a particular focus on those who had given their time to public service, the government said.



Europe's Oldest Lake Settlement Uncovered in Albania

A drone view shows archaeologists diving in the lake of Ohrid to uncover objects, in the village of Lin, Albania, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Fatos Bytyci
A drone view shows archaeologists diving in the lake of Ohrid to uncover objects, in the village of Lin, Albania, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Fatos Bytyci
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Europe's Oldest Lake Settlement Uncovered in Albania

A drone view shows archaeologists diving in the lake of Ohrid to uncover objects, in the village of Lin, Albania, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Fatos Bytyci
A drone view shows archaeologists diving in the lake of Ohrid to uncover objects, in the village of Lin, Albania, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Fatos Bytyci

Archaeologists working on the shores of Ohrid Lake in Albania are convinced they have uncovered the oldest human settlement built on a European lake, finding evidence of an organized hunting and farming community living up to 8,000 years ago. The team, from Switzerland and Albania, spends hours each day about three meters (9.8 feet) underwater, painstakingly retrieving wooden stilts that supported houses.

The are also collecting bones of domesticated and wild animals, copper objects and ceramics, featuring detailed carvings.

Albert Hafner, from the University of Bern, said similar settlements have been found in Alpine and Mediterranean regions, but the settlements in the village of Lin are half a millennium older, dating back between 6,000 and 8,000 years.

"Because it is under water, the organic material is well-preserved and this allows us to find out what these people have been eating, what they have been planting," Hafner said.

Multiple studies show that Lake Ohrid, shared by North Macedonia and Albania, is the oldest lake in Europe, at over one million years.

The age of the findings is determined through radiocarbon dating and dendrochronology, which measures annual growth rings in trees. More than one thousand wood samples have been collected from the site, which may have hosted several hundred people.

It is believed to cover around six hectares, but so far, only about 1% has been excavated after six years of work.

Hafner said findings show that people who lived on the lake helped to spread agriculture and livestock to other parts of Europe.

"They were still doing hunting and collecting things but the stable income for the nutrition was coming from the agriculture," he said.

Albanian archaeologist Adrian Anastasi said it could take decades to fully explore the area.

"(By) the way they had lived, eaten, hunted, fished and by the way the architecture was used to build their settlement we can say they were very smart for that time," Anastasi said.