Splendid Isolation

While I’m following advice on staying at home, I thought it might be fun to plumb my musical ignorance. Ask me a question, any musical question.

Feel free to share this offer and stay well,

Best wishes

David

The Honours System

When teaching at the Royal College of Music a while back, I turned down a minor honorary award, reasoning that a gong approved by a senior management team that had been undermining my work was more about the institution’s superficial appearance than about me. But my suspicions run deeper than that. Today’s news that a very rich pop singer, friend of the Royals, has been further rewarded by The Establishment, reminds me of those who have turned down such dubious “honours”. Lists full of creative people who do not wish to lend their talent to a self-serving oligarchy that fuels the ambitions of the corrupt and venal.

e.g. Knighthoods and Damehoods …

Frank Auerbach, artist, declined Knighthood in 2003

Peter Benenson, founder of Amnesty International; was offered several times, but refused on each occasion, citing human rights abuses in which the British government was complicit.

Alan Bennett, playwright (in 1996; had previously declined appointment as CBE in 1988).

Arnold Bennett, novelist, declined Knighthood offered for service in running the British government’s French propaganda department during World War I.

David Bowie, musician (in 2003).

Danny Boyle, theatre and film director (in 2013).

Joseph Conrad, novelist.

Francis Crick, physicist, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA; was also offered a CBE in 1963, but did not accept it.

Michael Faraday, scientist.

Harry Ferguson, businessman, engineer and inventor; twice offered and declined Knighthood in the last ten years of his life; in response to a letter from Winston Churchill offering to submit his name, Ferguson declined on the ground that Knighthoods should be reserved for servicemen and statesmen, whose financial rewards were relatively small, and should not be given to businessmen or industrialists with financial wealth.

Albert Finney, actor (in 2000; had previously declined CBE in 1980).

Michael Frayn, novelist and dramatist; declined a Knighthood in the 2003 New Year Honours and a CBE four years previously.

John Freeman, politician, journalist, diplomat, business executive. Also declined a peerage.

Graham Greene, novelist.

Herbert Hart, Professor of Jurisprudence, Oxford in 1966, believed state honours should only be given and accepted for public service.

Stanford G. Haughton, sound recordist/musician (in 1952).

Stephen Hawking, physicist, reportedly turned down a Knighthood because he “does not like titles.”

Bill Hayden, Governor-General of Australia.

Patrick Heron, artist, declined a Knighthood allegedly over the education policy of the government in the 1980s.

Peter Higgs, physicist, Professor of Theoretical Physics, University of Edinburgh; co-discoverer of the Higgs boson in 1999, because he felt honours are used for political purposes by the government.

Keith Hill, Labour MP; declined Knighthood in 2010 Dissolution Honours, stating: “My fundamental reason is that I have never had the least desire to have a title. I don’t want to be discourteous, but I find the whole idea a little embarrassing and too much for me.”

Dorothy Hodgkin, scientist, Nobel Prize for Chemistry 1964.

Aldous Huxley, author (in 1959).

Glenda Jackson, actress and politician.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan; offered a Knighthood in 1925, he replied: “I prefer to be plain Mr Jinnah”.

Rudyard Kipling, writer, and poet; declined Knighthood in 1899 and again in 1903; his wife stated that he could, “do his work better without it”. Kipling also declined the Order of Merit in 1921 and again in 1924. Kipling expressed his own view on the importance of titles and poetry in his poem “The Last Rhyme of True Thomas”.

T.E. Lawrence, Arabist, archaeologist, soldier; King George V offered Lawrence a Knighthood in 1918 at a private audience in Buckingham Palace for his services in the Arab Revolt, but he declined.

Doris Lessing, author, Nobel Prize for Literature (declined DBE in 1992, stating it was in the name of a non-existent Empire; also declined appointment as OBE in 1977.

Edgar Lobel, Romanian-British classicist and papyrologist (in 1955).

L.S. Lowry, artist (in 1968; had previously declined appointment as OBE in 1955 and CBE in 1961; later twice declined appointment as CH (1972, 1976); holds the record for the most honours declined).

Arthur Mann, then editor of the Yorkshire Post, declined two Knighthoods in the 1920s on the basis that accepting would interfere with his journalism.

Kingsley Martin, journalist and successful editor of the ‘New Statesman’ reaching its highest circulation in the 1930s and 1940s. He declined the ‘honour’ in 1965 because he strongly disapproved of the honours system, certainly for journalists.

John Loudon McAdam, Scottish road builder.

Geraldine McEwan, actress (in 2002; had previously declined appointment as OBE in 1986).

Michael Meacher, Labour politician.

Stanley Morison, typographer (in 1953).

Robert Neild, economic adviser Labour government 1964-67. Professor of Economics Cambridge University.

A.G. Norman, scientist (in 1969).

William Pember Reeves, New Zealand politician, declined knighthood three times, including GCMG.

Frank Pick, chief executive of London Transport (also declined a peerage).

Harold Pinter, playwright.

J.B. Priestley, playwright and novelist.

Vanessa Redgrave, actress (declined Damehood in 1999).

Bridget Riley, artist.

Amartya Sen, economist and Nobel Prize winner.

George Bernard Shaw, playwright, critic, and socialist.

Paul Scofield, actor (in 1968).

Quentin Skinner, historian; Regius Professor of Modern History, University of Cambridge; republican.

Peter Tatchell, human rights activist and campaigner.

A.J.P. Taylor, historian, probably due to anti-Establishment views: ‘The Establishment draws its recruits from outside as soon as they are ready to conform to its standards and become respectable. There is nothing more agreeable in life than to make peace with the Establishment – and nothing so corrupting.

Steven Watson, historian, declined offer of Knighthood twice, in 1960 and after becoming Principal of St. Andrews University in 1966.

Dorothy Wedderburn, academic, Principal of Royal Holloway and Bedford College London, 1980–90.

Patrick White, Australian writer, Nobel Prize for Literature (1970).

John Henry Whitley, Liberal MP and Speaker of the House of Commons.

Norman Willis, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress: turned down a Knighthood offered to him by John Major, just as he had turned aside a proposal from the Labour leader John Smith that he might consider going into the House of Lords.

BRAVO !