Lorraine Kelly Salutes World’s Finest Armed Forces At ‘The Millies’ Military Awards

Lorraine Kelly has spoken of how The Sun Military Awards was a way of saying ‘thank you to our boys and girls of the Armed Forces’ as she sported hair rollers as she was getting ready for the glamorous ceremony.

The Millies, as the awards are affectionately known, have been held in front of an audience of dignitaries and celebrities - including stars from TV, sports, music and the media - and of course members of Britain's Armed Forces.

This year's awards took place at Banqueting House in Whitehall after the event, originally expected in 2019, was postponed last year.

Lorraine, speaking in her hair rollers as she was prepared for the 12th Sun Military Awards, said the awards themselves looked “classy” adding:

“They should always be the very, very best for our boys and girls. It’s such a great night. I absolutely love it."

There were ten awards handed out during the evening.

Lorraine said she did not know who would receive the awards ahead of the evening, saying: “They don’t tell me as I would give it away, I’m hopeless – you get to see everyone beforehand and I would probably go, ‘Well done’ and that would not be good, I don’t want to do that.”

TV presenter Lorraine, loved by millions for hosting top ITV shows including Good Morning Britain (GMB), Daybreak and her own show Lorraine, in a television career spanning 35 years, introduced the awards ceremony which pays tribute to the men and women of the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force.

Lorraine showed Forces News where the magic of the evening was going to take place.

She said: “It’s a beautiful, beautiful room.

“This is a really special event. It’s such a great way for us to say ‘thanks’ because we don’t get a chance to do that very often.”

Speaking of some of the guests at the glitzy ceremony, she revealed that a member of boy band One Direction would be there, Liam Payne, as well as broadcaster Chris Evans and Coronation Street’s Kym Marsh among the line up.

She said it was such a popular event that it was one of the few that organisers had to turn people away from as they often get too many people wanting to attend.

She said: “Everybody wants to be here. It’s just wonderful and it gets better and better every year.”

She agreed that the celebrities were not the stars of the event, adding: “It’s all about the men and women of the Armed Forces – it’s their night.

“It’s lovely to have a sprinkling of all these stars from TV and movies all the rest of it and the world of music but really, it’s not about them and they know that. “And that is an indication of the kind of people we get along – there’s no divas.

“It’s just people who, like I keep saying, want to say thanks.”

She added that she thought she was too busy to get too nervous about the event but she said she did get concerned that it was “perfect for the boys and girls.”

Awards categories included honours for heroes both at home and overseas, and for both individual nominees and units, and other awards for best reservist, for overcoming adversity and for innovation.

Members of the judging panel for the awards included Sir Roger Carr, chairman of BAE Systems, Air Chief Marshal Sir Andrew Pulford, former Chief of the Air Staff, General Lord David Richards, former Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir Richard Barrons, former Commander Joint Forces Command, TV and radio broadcaster Chris Evans, TV presenter Lorraine Kelly, Ant Middleton, star of SAS: Who Dares Wins reality show and Special Forces veteran, Tony Gallagher, editor of The Sun and ex-soldier-turned-author Andy McNab.

Forces Network posted live updates in the live feed below from our teams from Forces News, Forces Radio BFBS and our social media team at the scene as guests arrived on the red carpet for the ceremony.

Take a look at some of the social media posts, including the announcements of the winners, plus interviews with celebrities on the red carpet, in the feed below: