15 Famous Names Who Turned Down British Honours
Patiently waiting to hear the immortal words: "arise, Sir Morrissey"
As the joke goes, royal honours are so common these days they may as well be handed out in Christmas crackers. Each year a new batch of businessmen, musicians, actors, athletes and the like are bestowed with titles supposedly befitting their achievements. Most recently, actor Benedict Cumberbatch, former rugby pro Johnny Wilkinson and Paddington Bear creator Michael Bond are to receive CBEs, footballer Frank Lampard an OBE, and comedian Lenny Henry shall be hitherto known as ‘Sir’ (presumably in recognition of his role in starting Comic Relief, rather than his work publicising Premier Inns).
There also happens to be a sizable list of people who have turned down royal recognitions over the years, too. They are of course not so well publicised. Modern protocol stipulates potential awardees are contacted by government officials well in advance in order to gauge levels of interest, or maybe just to avoid any public embarrassment. All of which makes perfect sense, because imagine the ignominy should, say, Joey Essex publicly denounce the honours system as “an archaic throwback to Britain’s piratical heritage” after an attempted honouring in 2020. Would be pretty embarrassing for all involved.
But let’s drag ourselves away from the realms of fantasy for long enough to instead focus on some of those who’ve, over the years, turned down that opportunity of namely decorations and a meeting with the queen.
15. John Lennon
1009180It’s maybe a bit of a surprise that John Lennon accepted an MBE in the first place. This joke, made at the 1963 Royal Variety performance, hints at the rumblings of some anti-monarchist sentiments in the young Lennon, especially as he intended to drop the F-bomb too (only to be talked out of it by Paul McCartney and manager Brian Epstein). But he did accept an MBE, and then returned it in 1969, explaining:
"I am returning this MBE in protest against Britain's involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam, and against 'Cold Turkey' slipping down the charts."