Pride of Britain Awards

2009 Winner Martin Langlands Martin Langlands risked his life to save a family whose car crashed after a blow-out on a busy motorway. The Royal Navy Petty Officer was with wife Claire, 24, when they saw the vehicle spin into an M5 barrier. Martin, 26, pulled up and ran across the busy motorway in darkness […]

2009 Winner Michael Seery Pensioner Michael was waiting for friends in his local betting shop when the afternoon took a dramatic and violent turn. The partially-sighted ex-policeman, 69, was the only customer when a man in a crash-helmet charged in, wielding a knife. He smashed the windows at the front desk and ordered the two […]

2009 Winner Toni & Kelsey When baby Toni fell into a bath of scalding hot water, her big sister Kelsey bravely leapt in to save her. The accident happened one morning in February 2003 when Kelsey was four and Toni was 10 months old. Mum Tracey had started running a bath, but when her back […]

2009 Winner Noel Connolly Royal Marine Sergeant Noel Connolly saved the lives of 30 of his comrades when he prevented a Taliban suicide bomber from detonating154lb of explosives. The 41-year-old was stationed in an abandoned school in the Kandahar province of Afghanistan when his unit were warned a suicide bomber was about to kill them. […]

2009 Winner Doris Long She may be 95, but Doris Long isn’t prepared for life to slow down just yet. Famed for her fundraising stunts, she is also the world’s oldest abseiler. Widow Doris has a daughter, Helen, three grandchildren and six great grandchildren. Her passion for abseiling was sparked in 1999, when on holiday […]

2009 Winner Sir Peter Mansfield Nobel Prize winner Peter Mansfield has saved millions of lives with his invention.  Sir Peter, 75, failed his 11-plus and left school at 15 with no qualifications. But an article on rockets in the Daily Mirror in 1949 spurred him on to a job at the Rocket Propulsion Establishment in […]