Coronavirus lockdown pub quizmaster Jay Flynn becomes MBE

Jay Flynn broadcast his virtual pub quiz on social media

A lockdown quizmaster, an England captain and a council leader have been honoured in the Queen's Birthday List.

Jay Flynn from Darwen, who hosted weekly quizzes online for up to 500,000 people, said he almost fell off his chair when he heard about his MBE.

Others honoured on the list include Blackburn with Darwen Council leader Mohammed Khan and billionaire brothers Zuber and Mohsin Issa, who become CBEs.

In sport, para footballer Stephen Daley, from Preston, becomes an OBE.

Daley, who played more than 140 times for England's partially-sighted football team, was captain for 23 years and led the side to a third-place finish in the 2018 Euro Championships.

Blackburn with Darwen Council leader Mohammed Khan has become a CBE

Mr Khan said he believed his honour was "for the whole borough and its people" who have faced strict restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic.

He said the area had "a lot of strengths and have a lot to be proud of [as] we never give up, even when faced with extreme challenges".

The Issa brothers, who have been honoured for their services to business and charity, become CBEs a week after they won the battle to buy Asda from US company Walmart.

Asda's new owners Zuber and Mohsin Issa have been appointed CBEs

Mr Flynn's online quizzes were originally intended to entertain his friends after the lockdown shut pubs in March, but he accidentally made the Facebook event public and soon found himself with an audience of half a million.

He said he believed the success was "because in those first few days, everybody didn't know what they were doing or supposed to be doing [and] we didn't have anything to look forward to".

The 38-year-old, who slept rough for two years following a relationship breakdown in 2007, said he "never thought I would achieve anything in my life [so] I'm blown away".

The quizmaster lives in Darwen with his wife Sarah and three-year-old son

He said the quizzes had done more than just entertain and he had received "lovely messages" from people who had done things like reconnect with their parents through taking part.

He has also encouraged participants of the free games to donate to charity, raising more than £750,000 in the process, including a single collection of £140,000 from a special edition of the quiz hosted by Stephen Fry in May.

That edition, which saw 182,000 people take part, also took the Guinness World Record for the most viewers of a quiz on a YouTube livestream.