Clapton gets gong

Rock guitarist Eric Clapton has set aside his "rebellious streak" to become a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, or CBE.

The 59-year-old singer-songwriter described the honour - conferred by Princess Anne during a ceremony at Buckingham Palace - as the "icing on the cake" of his career.

However, Clapton conceded that he would have found it hard to accept the honour, with all its establishment connections, earlier in his life.

"I had a rebellious streak in me," he said after the ceremony. "As a kid, I would not have been able to accept this. I was immature about the way I looked at that. I was against the establishment. Now I have grown up, I really think it is an important thing to be able to set an example of some kind."