Sir Jony Ive awarded the Gold Blue Peter Badge
First the knighthood, and now one of the most difficult to achieve honours.
Apple design chief, Sir Jonathan Ive, has been awarded possibly the most prestigious of all accolades in the U.K. – the famous Blue Peter Gold badge. Apple’s senior VP of industrial design, born in Chelmsford, Essex, is now one of the 1,000 people ever to be bestowed with the highest honour from the iconic BBC children’s TV show.
For people outside the U.K., understanding the cultural heritage of Children’s TV magazine programme Blue Peter may be a bit difficult. Since 1958, it is the world’s longest running programme for children, and has become a part of the society so deeply that many of the many of the catchphrases have become a part of the cultural language.
Sir Ive joins the likes of David Beckham, JK Rowling, Jessica Ennis, David Tennant and the Queen in a fairly exclusive club. This accolade comes not soon after Ive was knighted by the Queen of England, in the May 2012.
The British executive is the brains behind what are considered to be excellent design of the MacBooks, iMacs and the iPhones. In October 2012, he was also given the charge of the software side, the results of which we are expected to see with the next generation of desktop and smartphone and tablet operating systems. Apple has been under severe criticism off late, for what is now considered to be a dated looking operating system, particularly under competition from Android and now even BlackBerry. A lot now rests on the shoulders of Sir Ive, as he attempts to overhaul the OS, while keeping the hardware looking fresh.
Source: BBC