Big Issue founder John Bird appointed to House of Lords

John Bird launched The Big Issue in London in 1991

Big Issue founder John Bird has promised to "work for social opportunity and social justice" after being appointed to the House of Lords.

Mr Bird launched the magazine, which is written by journalists and sold by homeless people, in 1991.

He went on to set up the Big Issue Foundation and Big Issue Invest, a company that finances social enterprise and charities.

He will join the Lords as a non-party-political peer.

The magazine was first launched in London to enable homeless people to earn money rather than depending on begging or handouts.

Mr Bird said: "Mine will be a voice in the legislative process for the thousands of people The Big Issue has helped over the past 24 years and continues to help today, through our philosophy of social entrepreneurialism based on self-help."

Nigel Kershaw, chair of the Big Issue, added: "John is a Lord we can all applaud.

"It is a testament to his character and vision - and to the changing world we live in - that John becomes probably the first peer ever appointed on a lifetime of experience which includes being raised as an orphan in a slum, illiteracy, sleeping rough and being jailed as a young offender.

"He has first-hand experience of the issues facing homeless people, having become homeless at the age of five, resided in an orphanage as a child, spent time in detention as a teenager, and having himself slept rough in London."