15 Famous Names Who Turned Down British Honours

2. Evelyn Waugh

Probably most famous for penning the bestselling novel Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh (right) was another who thought the honour of CBE was beneath him. He instead preferred a knighthood, and apparently confided to friends that the CBE was fit only for “second grade Civil Servants”. 

In a later correspondence with fellow novelist Graham Greene, Waugh admitted to feeling 'ashamed' at his earlier refusal. He died, in 1963, with neither a CBE nor the knighthood he had hankered after.