The proportion of people turning down honours from the Queen is rising and has more than doubled over the past nine years, a Guardian analysis shows. From to this year, people rejected a knighthood, MBE, OBE or other awards in recognition of their merit, service or bravery, according to Cabinet Office figures released under a freedom of information FoI request.
While annual rejection figures fluctuate and remain small, experts said in recent years there has been growing awareness of the ills of the British empire and unease around governments using the year-old system to reward political allies and donors. In , under the first full year of the new Conservative-led government, the proportion of rejections stood at 1. The chef and former journalist turned down the offer of an OBE in She said: "I'm not saving lives and I'm not doing anything other than something I absolutely love.
He said: "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 was nominated for his work with Show Racism A Red Card, but turned it down because "my ancestors would be turning in their graves after how empire and colonialism had enslaved them". He wrote a letter which read: "Your Majesty, I am returning this 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.
Watch Live. Fill 2 Copy 11 Created with Sketch. Saturday 28 December , UK. John Lennon. I could have done it privately, but the press would have found out anyway. You would have been here a week later instead -- less impact," he said during a news conference in Howard Gayle. Hayle, the first black footballer to play for Liverpool FC, wrote in a Facebook post: "I had to decline the nomination for the reason that my ancestors would be turning in their graves after how Empire and Colonialism had enslaved them.
Benjamin Zephaniah. The poet revealed he received an invitation from the Prime Minister's office to receive the title of OBE -- Order of the British Empire -- but rejected it, writing: "I am profoundly anti-empire. I thought, OBE me? Up yours, I thought. I get angry when I hear that word 'empire'; it reminds me of slavery, it reminds of thousands of years of brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised," he wrote in David Bowie.
I seriously don't know what it's for. It's not what I spent my life working for," he said. Lennon sassily wrote ,. 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.
Aldous Huxley is one of the most prominent English writers of the 20th century, and a counterculture icon. In addition to his personal philosophy, Huxley is known for works of both fiction and non-fiction, including Brave New World and The Doors of Perception. Huxley turned down a knighthood in , but his reasons are unknown. Read on for a list of celebrities who decided knighthood wasn't for them.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons. David Bowie. Alan Rickman. Stephen Hawking. John Cleese. Bill Nighy. Jim Broadbent. Peter O'Toole. Peter Capaldi. Rudyard Kipling.
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