Former St Mary’s Menston Student Awarded CBE in New Years Honours

Congratulations to former pupil Stuart Murphy CBE who was recognised in the New Year’s Honours List and awarded a CBE for his services to Opera.

Since his days at school, where he played the clarinet and was captain of the school rugby team, Stuart has gone on to achieve great success in the world of media. Becoming one of the country's youngest Channel Controllers at the age of 26, he has worked for BBC Manchester, BBC Choice, launched and ran BBC Three, ran Sky One and then in 2011 he launched and ran Sky Atlantic. He has been responsible for bringing many popular programmes to our screens from Gavin and Stacey to Game of Thrones, Little Britain to Mad Men and A League of their Own to An Idiot Abroad. However, it is as Chief Executive of the English National Opera (ENO) for the past 5 and a half years, and his services to opera, which have led to his nomination and award of a CBE. He has steered the organisation successfully through the challenging climate presented by COVID-19, ensured that Under 21-year-olds come to ENO performances completely for free, developed better diverse representation across the organisation and overseen the post Covid ENO Breathe programme rolled out to over 80 NHS trusts.

When asked about his time at St Mary's he said:
"I owe so much to St Mary's which is deservedly seen as one of the top state schools in the country. The staff always went above and beyond, whether you loved a subject or struggled with understanding something. I also remember them as just really decent people, with their values in the right place and prepared to invest time and energy in helping you get to where you wanted. They were also a good laugh. The school's extra- curricular opportunities, from sport to music to school trips, were always about broadening your mind and making you feel the world was big and full of chance and possibility. I feel really, really lucky to have gone there."

A huge congratulations to Stuart on this wonderful achievement and recognition of hard work and commitment to his profession. We hope to be able to invite Stuart back to St Mary’s in the near future.

Find out more about the remarkable achievements of St Mary's Menston former students.