{"id":60270,"date":"2017-12-29T16:15:25","date_gmt":"2017-12-29T21:15:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/new-years-honours-list-the-best-reasons-why-people-rejected-an-honour\/"},"modified":"2017-12-29T16:15:25","modified_gmt":"2017-12-29T21:15:25","slug":"new-years-honours-list-the-best-reasons-why-people-rejected-an-honour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/new-years-honours-list-the-best-reasons-why-people-rejected-an-honour\/","title":{"rendered":"New Year\u2019s Honours List: The Best Reasons Why People Rejected An Honour"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Year\u2019s Honours List: The Best Reasons Why People Rejected An Honour<\/b><\/p>\n

Whilst the majority of people are delighted to be mentioned in the Queen\u2019s New Year\u2019s Honours List, scores of others have\u00a0turned down an <\/a>award and some have even thought twice and returned them years after making a trip to the palace.<\/p>\n

Some of the most\u00a0high profile names to do so<\/a>\u00a0include Roald Dahl, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and Steven Hawking.<\/p>\n

And from the ethical to the downright bizarre, there are many reasons why people reject gongs\u00a0– here are ten of the best:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0David Bowie<\/a><\/h3>\n

Bowie turned down an OBE in the Queen’s birthday honours in 2000.<\/strong>” alt=”Bowie turned down an OBE in the Queen’s birthday honours in 2000.<\/strong>” data-credit=”PA Wire\/PA Images” data-portal-copyright=”PA Wire\/PA Images” data-provider=”pressassociation” data-provider-asset-id=”2.31994599″ data-has-syndication-rights=”false”><\/p>\n

David Bowie turned down an OBE in the Queen\u2019s birthday honours in 2000, saying: \u201cI seriously don\u2019t know what it\u2019s for.\u201d<\/p>\n

The music icon, who passed away last year, said he did not see the point in the honour.<\/p>\n

He said:<\/a>\u00a0\u201cI would never have any intention of accepting anything like that. I seriously don\u2019t know what it\u2019s for.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not what I spent my life working for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Addressing fellow musician, Mick Jagger, accepting the honour, Bowie said: \u201cIt\u2019s not my place to make a judgment on Jagger, it\u2019s his decision. But it\u2019s just not for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0George Harrison<\/a><\/h3>\n

Harrison played rhythm guitar in The Beatles. He died in 2001.<\/strong>” alt=”Harrison played rhythm guitar in The Beatles. He died in 2001.<\/strong>” data-credit=”S&G and Barratts\/EMPICS Archive” data-portal-copyright=”S&G and Barratts\/EMPICS Archive” data-provider=”pressassociation” data-provider-asset-id=”2.4207794″ data-has-syndication-rights=”false”><\/p>\n

In 2000 the former Beatle turned down an OBE after his band mate Paul McCartney was awarded a knighthood.<\/p>\n

Documents revealed Harrison was put forward for the honour due to his contribution to the music industry.<\/p>\n

But journalist Ray Connolly, who knew The Beatles, said Harrison would have been insulted at such an offer after McCartney received a knighthood three years previously.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhoever it was who decided to offer him the OBE and not the knighthood was extraordinarily insensitive,\u201d\u00a0he said.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cGeorge would have felt insulted \u2013 and with very good reason.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every member of the Beatles was awarded an MBE in 1965, but John Lennon returned his as a peace protest.<\/p>\n

3. JG Ballard\u00a0<\/h3>\n

Novelist JG Ballard called the awards ‘ludicrous’.<\/strong>” alt=”Novelist JG Ballard called the awards ‘ludicrous’.<\/strong>” data-credit=”BARRY LEWIS VIA GETTY IMAGES” data-portal-copyright=”BARRY LEWIS VIA GETTY IMAGES” data-provider=”Corbis” data-provider-asset-id=”205986979″ data-has-syndication-rights=”false”><\/p>\n

Novelist James Graham \u2018JG\u2019 Ballard, a self-proclaimed republican, called the awards \u201cludicrous\u201d and urged the system be \u201cswept away\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Explaining in 2003 why he rejected a CBE,\u00a0<\/a>which he was put forward for to recognise his services to literature,\u00a0Ballard said he could not accept an honour awarded by the monarch.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s all that bowing and scraping and mummery at the palace.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the whole climate of deference to the monarch and everything else it represents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey just seem to perpetuate the image of Britain as too much pomp and not enough circumstance. It\u2019s a huge pantomime where tinsel takes the place of substance.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of these medals are orders of the British Empire, which is a bit ludicrous.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dreams of empire were only swept away relatively recently, in the 60s. Suddenly, we seem to have a prime minister who has delusions of a similar kind.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt goes with the whole system of hereditary privilege and rank, which should be swept away.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt uses snobbery and social self-consciousness to guarantee the loyalty of large numbers of citizens who should feel their loyalty is to fellow citizens and the nation as a whole. We are a deeply class-divided society.\u201d<\/p>\n

JG Ballard died in 2009.<\/p>\n

4. Carla Lane<\/h3>\n

Writer Carla Lane returned her OBE in an objection over animal cruelty.<\/strong>” alt=”Writer Carla Lane returned her OBE in an objection over animal cruelty.<\/strong>” data-credit=”PA Archive\/PA Images” data-portal-copyright=”PA Archive\/PA Images” data-provider=”pressassociation” data-provider-asset-id=”2.1306980″ data-has-syndication-rights=”false”><\/p>\n

Carla Lane was given an OBE for services to writing in 1989 but returned it more than ten years later in an objection over animal cruelty.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2002 Lane\u00a0returned her honour to then prime minister Tony Blair after a CBE was awarded to Brian Cass<\/a>, the head of Huntingdon Life Sciences, which runs animal testing laboratories.<\/p>\n

Blair told Lane she could have her OBE back any time she liked, but she never asked for it back.<\/p>\n

Lane, who was a passionate animal rights activist and even set up an animal sanctuary from her home, passed away last year.<\/p>\n

5. Howard Gayle<\/h3>\n