A Manorbier-based writer has been appointed OBE in the 2014 New Year Honours.

The citation for Paul Griffiths (pictured right) is for services to Music Literature and Composition.

Paul's books are read by students, music educators and music-lovers all over the world, and he has won the gratitude of countless composers for his advocacy of new music.

Born in Bridgend in 1947, his father, Fred, served with distinction in the Royal Navy during World War II, later making his living as manager of an electroplating company.

Paul's mother, Jeanne, served in the police force before her marriage.

At the age of ten he gained a free place at King Edward's School, Birmingham, and at 17 won a scholarship to Lincoln College, Oxford, where he read biochemistry while studying music history and music theory on his own.

Paul was 23 when his first concert review was published in The Musical Times, and 25 when he joined the staff of The New Grove Dictionary of Music, while reviewing for London papers including The Musical Times and The Financial Times. At 34 he became chief music critic of The Times.

From 1992 to 2002 he wrote for publications in New York.

Since then he has been based in Manorbier, writing articles, programme notes and reviews for music organisations here and abroad, as well as books.

Invitations to give lectures and courses have taken him to London, Paris, Brussels and back to the United States (Harvard, Cornell, Stanford and the City University of New York); invitations to serve on music juries have taken him to Italy and Germany.

He is a member of the Welsh Academy and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Chevalier in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

His books, including novels as well as 20 volumes about music, have been translated into 12 languages, including Welsh.

His study of western classical music since 1945, 'Modern Music and After', now in its third edition, is regarded as definitive.

Operas and concert works in which Paul's words are set to music have been performed in Britain and abroad, and recorded by ECM, Sony and RCA.

The year 2014 will see the publication of two volumes of stories that he based on Japanese noh plays, 'The Tilted Cup' (in English) and 'Pavillon lunaire' (in French), as well as the British premiere of his collaboration with Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen - 'let me tell you', for soprano and orchestra - in Birmingham in June, and the world premiere of 'Gulliver', an opera set by British composer James Wood, in Germany in the autumn.

MBE for Haverfordwest doctor: A doctor from Haverfordwest was also named in the New Year Honours List.

Dr. Anne Barnes, an associate specialist in oncology and end of life care at Ward 10, Withybush Hospital, is to become an MBE, for services to cancer patients in Pembrokeshire.