Dahl, Hitchcock refused honours
A member of staff (centre) poses with waxwork models of US actor Taylor Lautner (right) and British actor Robert Pattinson
Writers Roald Dahl, Aldous Huxley, Graham Greene and C.S. Lewis were in the till-now secret list of Britons who had refused to accept honours from the reigning monarch, between 1951 and 1999.
Painters Lucien Freud, Francis Bacon and L.S. Lowry, sculptor Henry Moore and playwright J.B. Priestley were named in the list of 277 people published on Thursday by the Cabinet office.
The secret document, obtained under Freedom of Information laws, was ordered to be released by the Information Commissioner’s Office. It names a total of 277 Britons who had refused prestigious honours over the 48-year period and have since died.
The list exclusively reveals details of which Britons snubbed OBEs, CBEs and knighthoods in the annual New Year or Birthday Honours lists.
Surprisingly, British film director Sir Alfred Hitchcock turned down a CBE in 1962, but in 1980 accepted a knighthood just four months before his death.
Similarly, author Graham Greene turned down a CBE in 1956, but accepted honours later in life.
The list has a large number of artists and writers — Dahl, Huxley, and C.S. Lewis turned down knighthoods; author J.G. Ballard rejected a CBE; poets Philip Larkin turned down an OBE and Robert Greaves rejected CBE and Companion of Honour; and Evelyn Waugh, famous for his book Brideshead Revisited, refused to accept a CBE.
Lowry, however, turned down more honours than anybody else — he rejected five honours, including an OBE in 1955, a CBE in 1961 and a knighthood in 1968. Bacon turned down a CBE in 1960, Freud refused the honour in 1977 and Dahl rejected an OBE in 1986.
Scientists too have rejected the honours, with physicist Paul Dirac and DNA pioneer Francis Crick in the list.
The Cabinet office will not reveal any more information about others who have rejected the honours. “We answered a specific FOI requesting information on deceased people who have refused honours. It is up to individuals whether they wish to accept or refuse an honour. We have no plans to routinely publish a list of those people who refuse honours,” a spokesperson said.
The UK government is now taking a keen interest in the fate of the knighthood awarded to Sir Fred Goodwin, the former boss of the Royal Bank of Scotland. The honours forfeiture committee, which makes recommendations to the reigning monarch on the withdrawal of honours, is reviewing Sir Fred’s case.
The former RBS boss was honoured with a knighthood in 2004 by the Labour government headed by Prime Minister Tony Blair. However, he has been heavily criticised for his role in the near collapse of the bank he led during the recent banking crisis in 2008.
Post new comment