Roll Of Honour
Jan. 27th, 2012 10:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphiloThe list of those who turned down honours is a roll of honour in its own right.
Pride of place goes to the painter L.S Lowry. The Palace courted him assiduously, offering different bangles on five separate occasions- and he turned them down every time.
Other artists who said "No"- only not so often- include Ben Nicholson, John Piper, Henry Moore, Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud.
Then there are the writers: Aldous Huxley, C.S. Lewis, Philip Larkin, Roald Dahl, Graham Greene, Robert Graves, Eleanor Farjeon. At their head stands J.B. Priestley, the only person on the list to turn down a peerage.
Actors love sparkly things, but here are four who resisted: Trevor Howard, Andrew Cruikshank, Paul Scofield and (the most surprising name on the list) Robert Morley.
Pride of place goes to the painter L.S Lowry. The Palace courted him assiduously, offering different bangles on five separate occasions- and he turned them down every time.
Other artists who said "No"- only not so often- include Ben Nicholson, John Piper, Henry Moore, Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud.
Then there are the writers: Aldous Huxley, C.S. Lewis, Philip Larkin, Roald Dahl, Graham Greene, Robert Graves, Eleanor Farjeon. At their head stands J.B. Priestley, the only person on the list to turn down a peerage.
Actors love sparkly things, but here are four who resisted: Trevor Howard, Andrew Cruikshank, Paul Scofield and (the most surprising name on the list) Robert Morley.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-27 04:18 pm (UTC)You're right: I'm not at all surprised by Francis Bacon or Robert Graves, but I am by Morley. What were his reasons?
no subject
Date: 2012-01-27 06:51 pm (UTC)I understand he was a very modest man. Perhaps that had something to do with it.