A much deserved honour for a much loved figure: Branagh
If honours such as the freedom of Belfast are to retain any meaning they should only be granted rarely and to people who are clearly deserving recipients.
There is no doubt that Ken Branagh is just such a deserving person.
Sir Kenneth, as he now is, is one of the greatest cultural figures to have emerged from Northern Ireland since 1921.
It is hard to credit the fact that Sir Kenneth is still well under the age of 60, not because he seems old (which he doesn’t) but because he has been with us for decades.
He first came to prominence in the much-loved Billy plays, which were a landmark TV production set in the Belfast of the Troubles and broadcast while they were still raging.
Later in the 1980s, Branagh was ear-marked to become one of the great Shakespearean actors of his generation, and appeared on the front cover of Time magazine.
But in a sense his career has ballooned beyond even that high status: he did indeed act in a wide variety of roles, on both stage and screen, but from a young age he directed too.
It is notable that he is the only person to have been nominated for five Academy Awards in five different categories. Sadly he has not won an Oscar yet, but that day will come.
All the while, amidst such success on both sides of the Atlantic, he has kept a close interest in this side of the Irish Sea.
He regularly returns to Northern Ireland, which he left at the age of nine, and gives his support and reputation to the arts here.
Branagh also has remained a down-to-earth, cheerful personality, unlike some haughty celebrities.
It was a pleasure to see him being recognised last night in the Ulster Hall, and joined for the occasion by other leading figures in the local cultural scene and civic dignitaries.
How typical that he spoke warmly of how his native city had inspired him in his childhood and how typical that yesterday he visited two schools on both sides of the tribal divide to share his inspiration with the schoolkids of today.