Esteemed author and broadcaster Melvyn Bragg is to receive a rare honour at Buckingham Palace.

The writer and presenter, more formally known as Lord Bragg of Wigton, will be made a Companion of Honour on Friday.

Membership of the Order of the Companions of Honour, established in 1917 by George V, is a special award recognising services of national importance.

The members, of which there are 65 at any one time, currently include actress Dame Maggie Smith and Harry Potter author JK Rowling.

Lord Bragg, 78, will be honoured in recognition of his services to broadcasting and the arts.

The Labour peer is best known for his work presenting The South Bank show on ITV over four decades and BBC Radio 4’s In Our Time discussion series.

Also being honoured is Paralympic medallist and long jump champion Stefanie McLeod Reid, whose right foot was amputated after a boating accident as a teenager.

Stefanie McLeod Reid has been awarded an MBE (Paul Harding/PA)
Stefanie McLeod Reid has been awarded an MBE (Paul Harding/PA)

The 33-year-old from Loughborough will collect an MBE for services to Paralympic sport.

Having won three Paralympic and two world medals over a decade of competition, she took gold with a victorious long jump at the World Para Athletics Championships in London in July 2017.