Special characters in author string not showing literally

The above did not show properly. The string in the emails is:

Tony - Antipole & site admin

Trying again – the string is:

Tony - Antipole && site admin

Third time: the string is showing as:

Tony - Antipole <an ampersand>amp; site admin

Additionally, in the excerpt the text ‘launching’ (with single quote marks) is being sent in user emails as

‘launching’

That last should read:

<an ampersand>#8216;launching<an ampersand>#8217;