Arise, Sir Branagh

At 51, Ken Branagh has just joined a select group of current British actors who can boast a 'Sir' before their name - Hopkins, Jacobi, McKellen, Courtenay, Caine, Kingsley, Lee and Gambon, to be more specific.

But the Belfast-born thesp's recent elevation in the latest Queen's Birthday Honours also keeps him on a direct parallel path with the man to whom most people think Branagh, as adept behind the camera as in front of it, is the direct artistic heir.

Mind you, Laurence Olivier were a mere 40 in 1947 when he got his knighthood.  It took Sir Larry another 23 years before he moved up further in the ranks, becoming ennobled in 1970.

So Branagh, lagging behind a bit in the 'K' stakes, still has a dozen years left to get that peerage under his belt in order to match the old master.

Meanwhile, Sir Ken, who, like Olivier, directed a film version of Henry V as well as appearing in many of the same Shakespearean stage roles, will always remain indelibly linked with the late great after playing him to wondrous effect in My Week with Marilyn (as pictured below).