Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson set for a people’s peerage

Bob Harris

Last updated 13/02/2010 10:24:55

Paralympic gold medallist Tanni Grey-Thompson, who has done so much to establish her sport around the world, is soon to become a "people's peer" after a recommendation from the House of Lords Appointments Commission.

Dame Tanni is Britain's most successful and popular Paralympian, with 11 Olympic golds for wheelchair racing, as well as seven golds in World Championships and thirty world records.

The Cardiff-born wheelchair racer will be one of four new non-party-political peers recommended to Prime Minister Gordon Brown by the commission.

The others are Design Council chair, executive director of the Institute for Government and former Whitehall mandarin Sir Michael Bichard, Royal Opera House chief executive and former BBC journalist Tony Hall, and eminent surgeon Professor Ajay Kakkar.

Tanni's list of honours is almost as long as her roll of honour in sport. She was appointed a Dame of Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005, an MBE in 1993 and an OBE in 1999.

She has been the inspiration to many with her determination, her personality and, of course, her success.

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