French honour follows CBE for music industry mogul

Lucian Grainge, who was at the School in the 1970s, was recently made an Officer of France’s Order of Arts and Letters. This follows his CBE last year for services to the creative industries. The Chief Executive Officer of Universal Music Group, he received his latest award at a ceremony in California, where he is now based, from France's culture minister, Frédéric Mitterand.

Long acknowledged as one of the most influential people in the global music industry, on the same day as he received his CBE at Buckingham Palace, Lucian was feted at the Brit music awards when news of his forthcoming appointment as CEO broke.

He has worked with a roster of artists such as Amy Winehouse, U2, Duffy, Girls Aloud and Eminem, and is known both for fostering digital partnerships and for taking a tough stance on illegal file-sharing.

Now in his early fifties, his own eye for retail is said to go back to his childhood, when he would study which records customers chose in his father's TV, radio and record shop.