Roll Of Honour

[poliphilo]

The 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.

Comments

[glitzfrau.livejournal.com]

Heroes, the lot of them.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

Almost surprising to find Lewis's name on the list. I'd have taken him for a God-and-country type.

[(Anonymous)]

Brilliant - I agree it is a roll of honour! They have gone way up in my estimation - for what that is worth.
Jenny x

[veronica-milvus.livejournal.com]

When asked, ho ho, I would turn down anything except a peerage. That would be a call to serve my country, whereas the rest is just Shiny.

[sovay]

and (the most surprising name on the list) Robert Morley.

You're right: I'm not at all surprised by Francis Bacon or Robert Graves, but I am by Morley. What were his reasons?

And then there's another roll....

[raakone.livejournal.com]

Someone should ahve a list of those who initially accepted their honors, but then "sent them back"...for one reason or another. I read at one point the Beatles all got OBEs...or at least John Lennon did.....and they turned them back to show their dissatisfaction with the government. Also, Rabindranath Tagore, celebrated Bengali poet who wrote what became the national anthems of India and Bangladesh, was awarded a knighthood in 1915 for his contributions to poetry. He returned it in 1919 after the Amritsar massacre, disgusted at the British and rightfully so.

Curious, do you think the British honors system should be completely ended, or do you think it should be modified to resemble, say, that of Canada? ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Canada , i.e. with no knighthoods)