The film The Theory of Everything may be dominating the news agenda right now following its three Academy Award wins - with Eddie Redmayne graciously accepting the Best Leading Actor accolade - but Stephen Hawking was not as grateful when offered the chance to become a knight. In 2008, Hawking revealed that he was offered a knighthood in the 1990s but turned it down due to the UK government's mismanagement of science funding. The physicist - who is best-known for his groundbreaking research into cosmology and quantum gravity, primarily to do with the Big Bang Theory and black holes - slammed the government's decision to merge together the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council and the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils. The author of A Brief History of Time, who famously suffers from motor neurone disease and communicates via a single-cheek muscle attached to a speech-generating device due to his paralysis, did later accept an Order of the Companions of Honour and a CBE, however.
NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.
