For some people a knighthood is the highest honour a person can receive, while for others it’s symbolic of Britain’s dark colonial past.
With the New Year’s honours list released last night, here’s some notable names that have rejected becoming an order of the British Empire.
David Bowie
The singer and songwriter turned down honours twice.
The first refection came in 2000 when he was offered a CBE and the second, in 2003, when offered a knighthood.
Speaking in 2003 Mr Bowie explained his decision: “I would never have any intention of accepting anything like that. I seriously don’t know what it’s for. It’s not what I spent my life working for.”
Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking turned down a knighthood in the late 1990s, a fact he did not reveal until 2008. The reasoning is not entirely clear, but according to a spokesman: “Prof Hawking does not like titles. In fact he dislikes the whole concept of them.”
Around the same time, Professor Hawking also released correspondence that showed his dissatisfaction with how the British government was funding scientific research.
“There is a possibility that very severe cuts will be made in the grants awarded to UK research groups. These grants are the lifeblood of our research effort; cutting them will hurt young researchers and cause enormous damage both to British science and to our international reputation”, he argued.
Some have suggested that this displeasure with funding is connected to his refusal of a knighthood.
Jon Snow
Legendary broadcaster Jon Snow made a name for himself as a hard-hitting journalist with a decades-long career but when he was offered an OBE, he rejected it.
Talking to the New York Times, Mr Snow said he thought journalists should not take OBEs: “I tried to find out why I’d been given it and was unable to get a clear answer or, indeed, to find out who had proposed me.”
John Lennon
The Beatle who was a renowned social activist returned his MBE in 1969 in protest at Britain’s foreign policy.
“Your Majesty, I am returning my MBE as a 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,” he said.
Ken Loach
The film director, whose films focus on social realism and government-induced poverty, spoke about turning down an OBE in 1977.
“It’s all the things I think are despicable: patronage, deferring to the monarchy and the name of the British Empire, which is a monument of exploitation and conquest,” he said.
“I turned down the OBE because it’s not a club you want to join when you look at the villains who’ve got it,” he added.
Benjamin Zephaniah
The recently deceased poet turned down his OBE in 2003.
Explaining his reasons for rejecting the honour he said: “Me? I thought, OBE me? Up yours, I thought.
“I get angry when I hear that word ’empire’; it reminds me of slavery, it reminds me of thousands of years of brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised.”
Danny Boyle
The award-winning director and choreographer for the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics said he rejected an honour because he would rather be “a man of the people.”
“It’s just not me,” he added.
