Allegedly Declined a British Honour
by Sylviastel | created - 27 Jan 2012 | updated - 4 months ago | PublicThe people below have declined a British honor in the past. Some have selected higher honors that doesn't carry titles.
101. David Hockney
Art_department | Something's Gotta Give
David Hockney was born on July 9, 1937 in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, UK. He is a production designer and actor, known for Something's Gotta Give (2003), Insignificance (1985) and Great Performances (1971).
Awarded CH, RA, artist. Declined Knighthood in 1990; accepted a CH in 1997 and OM in 2012.
102. Aldous Huxley
Writer | A Woman's Vengeance
Aldous Leonard Huxley was born on July 26, 1894, at Laleham in Godalming, Surrey, England. He was the third of four children. His brother Julian Huxley was a biologist known for his theories of evolution. His grandfather, named Thomas Henry Huxley, was a naturalist known as "Darwin's Bulldog." His ...
author; declined knighthood in 1959.
103. Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Self | Congress Session in Bombay
Muhammad Ali Jinnaha was a barrister, politician and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the inception of Pakistan on 14 August 1947, and then as the Dominion of Pakistan's first governor-general until his death. He is revered in ...
Declined Knighthood in 1925.
104. Augustus John
Self | Face to Face
Augustus John was born on January 4, 1878 in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK. He was married to Nettleship, Ida. He died on October 31, 1961.
declined knighthood.
105. Rudyard Kipling
Writer | The Man Who Would Be King
Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay, Maharashtra, India, the son of John Lockwood Kipling, a museum director and author and illustrator. This was at the height of the "British Raj", so he was brought up by Indian nurses ("ayahs"), who taught him something of the beliefs and tongues of India. He was ...
Declined Knighthood in 1899 and again 1903. He declined Order of Merit in 1921 and 1924.
106. T.E. Lawrence
Writer | Sabaton: Seven Pillars of Wisdom
T.E. Lawrence was born on August 16, 1888 in Tremadoc, Caernarvonshire, Wales, UK. He was a writer, known for Sabaton: Seven Pillars of Wisdom (2019), With Lawrence in Arabia (1927) and T. E. Lawrence 1888-1935 (1962). He died on May 19, 1935 in Clouds Hill, Dorset, England, UK.
Declined Knighthood in 1918 for his services in the Arab Revolt. declined Knight Commander in 1918. Also declined a CBE.
107. L.S. Lowry
Self | L.S. Lowry
L.S. Lowry was born on November 1, 1887 in Stretford, Manchester, England, UK. He died on February 23, 1976 in Glossop, Derbyshire, England, UK.
Declined Knighthood in 1968; declined OBE in 1955 and CBE in 1961; twice declined CH in 1972 and 1976. Holds records for the most honors declined.
108. Humphrey Lyttelton
Soundtrack | It's Great to Be Young!
Humph was born on May 23, 1921 in Eton College school, where his father was a housemaster and so he later attended England's most famous public school. During the War, he was an officer in the Grenadier Guards. After discharge, studied for two years at Camberwell Art School. But his love affair ...
Declined Knighthood in 1995.
109. Arthur Mann
editor of Yorkshire Post; declined 2 Knighthood offers in the 1920s but accepted a CH upon his retirement.
110. Kingsley Martin
Writer | Men of Our Time
Kingsley Martin was born on July 28, 1897 in Hereford, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Men of Our Time (1963), The Hunter (1952) and What the Papers Say (1956). He died on February 16, 1969 in Cairo, Egypt.
journalist and editor; declined Knighthood in 1965.
111. Neil MacGregor
Self | Takumi: A 60,000 Hour Story On the Survival of Human Craft
He allegedly declined a British honor.
Declined knighthood in 1999. He accepted the Order of Merit in 2010 .
112. Henry Moore
Art_department | The Pythoness
Spencer Moore was born on July 30th, 1898 in Castleford, Yorkshire, England. He was an English sculptor and artist. Moore is known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures usually of the female body and other public works of art, many of which are located around the world. He founded the ...
declined knighthood in 1951. sculptor.
113. John Osborne
Writer | Tom Jones
The Oscar-winning screenwriter John Osborne, better known as one of the most important British playwrights of the 1950s generation that revolutionized English-speaking theater, was born on December 12, 1929 in London, England. His father, Thomas Godfrey Osborne, a native of Newport, Monmouthshire, ...
playwright; declined knighthood.
114. Peter O'Toole
Actor | Lawrence of Arabia
A leading man of prodigious talents, Peter O'Toole was born and raised in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, the son of Constance Jane Eliot (Ferguson), a Scottish nurse, and Patrick Joseph O'Toole, an Irish metal plater, football player and racecourse bookmaker. Upon leaving school, he decided to become a...
actor; declined knighthood.
115. Harold Pinter
Actor | Mansfield Park
Harold Pinter, the 2005 Nobel Laureate for Literature, was born October 10, 1930, in London's working-class Hackney district to Hyman and Frances Pinter, Eastern European Jews who had immigrated to the United Kingdom from Portugal. Hyman (known as "Jack") was a tailor specializing in women's ...
declined knighthood but accepted a CH.
116. John Piper
Production_designer | Theatre Night
John Piper was born on December 13, 1903 in Epsom, Surrey, England, UK. He was a production designer and costume designer, known for Theatre Night (1957), Music for You (1951) and The Best Laid Schemes (1962). He was married to Myfanwy Piper and Eilenn Holding. He died on June 28, 1992 in Fawley ...
artist; declined knighthood.
117. Simon Russell Beale
Actor | The Death of Stalin
Simon Russell Beale is one of the most popular and critically acclaimed talents in British theatre.
He spent his early years abroad as his father was Surgeon General to the British Army (his mother is also a doctor), but aged 8 was relocated to England and became a pupil at St Paul's Cathedral ...
actor; accepted a CBE but declined Knighthood.
118. Frederick Sanger
Self | Face to Face: Fred Sanger
Frederick Sanger was born on August 13, 1918 in Rendcomb, Gloucestershire, England, UK. He was married to Margaret Joan Howe. He died on November 19, 2013 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK.
Declined knighthood but accepted OM, CH, and a CBE.
119. Amartya Sen
Self | Nobelity
Amartya Sen was born on November 3, 1933 in Manikganj, Bengal Presidency, British India. He has been married to Emma Rothschild since 1991. He was previously married to Eva Colorni and Nabaneeta Dev Sen.
declined knighthood.
120. George Bernard Shaw
Writer | My Fair Lady
The Anglo-Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925, acquired a reputation as the greatest dramatist in the English language during the first half of the 20th Century for the plays he had written at the height of his creativity from "Mrs. ...
Declined Knighthood and OM.
121. A.J.P. Taylor
The Life and Times of David Lloyd George
A.J.P. Taylor was born on March 25, 1906 in Birkdale, Merseyside, England, UK. He was a writer, known for The Life and Times of David Lloyd George (1981), The Uneasy Crown (1963) and Peacemaking 1919 (1971). He was married to Eva Haraszti, Eve Crossland and Margaret Adams. He died on September 7, ...
declined knighthood.
122. Patrick Heron
Writer | Art for All
Patrick Heron was born on January 30, 1920 in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, UK. He was a writer, known for Art for All (1971), New Release (1965) and Patrick Heron (1979). He died on March 20, 1999 in Zennor, Cornwall, England, UK.
declined Knighthood in 1980s.
123. Ralph Vaughan Williams
Soundtrack | Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Dr. Ralph Vaughan Williams was perhaps the most important English composer of the 20th Century. His influence on the development of 20th Century music was immense. Benjamin Britten and numerous film composers (Jerry Goldsmith, etc.) owe a lot to him. He created a truly contemporary idiom whose ...
declined knighthood.
124. William Woodfull
Self | The Ashes
William Woodfull was born on August 22, 1897 in Maldon, Victoria, Australia. He died on August 11, 1965 in Tweed Heads, New South Wales, Australia.
declined knighthood for services to cricket in 1934 but accepted an OBE for education services in 1963.
125. A.E. Housman
Writer | Camera Three
English poet and scholar. He was the eldest of seven children born to Edward Housman, a solicitor, and Sarah Jane Housman (née Williams). Housman was brought up and educated in Worcestershire, winning a scholarship to Bromsgrove School in 1870. In 1877 he won another scholarship, to St. John's ...
declined OM (Order of Merit.) in 1929.
126. H.G. Wells
Writer | The War of the Worlds
Writer, born in Bromley, Kent. He was apprenticed to a draper, tried teaching, studied biology in London, then made his mark in journalism and literature. He played a vital part in disseminating the progressive ideas which characterized the first part of the 20th-c. He achieved fame with scientific...
declined OM (Order of Merit).
127. Radomir Putnik
Writer | Kraj dinastije Obrenovic
Radomir Putnik was born on July 9, 1946 in Odzaci, Serbia, Yugoslavia. He is a writer, known for Kraj dinastije Obrenovic (1995), TV teatar (1956) and Pokondirena tikva (1986).
Declined Honorary Knight Commander of Order of St. Michael and St. George in 1915. He was Serbian field Marshal.
128. Paikiyasothi Saravanamuttu
Self | Dateline
declined Honorary Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George in 1946. He was Ceylonese civil servant.
129. Milunka Savic
Milunka Savic was born in 1889 in Koprivnica near Raska, Serbia. She died on October 5, 1973 in Belgrade, Serbia, Yugoslavia.
declined honorary Dame Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George in 1918. She was a Serbian and Yugoslavian sergeant.
130. Craig Murray
former UK Ambassador to Uzbekistan. He declined CVO (Companion of the Royal Victorian Order) and an LVO (Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order) and an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire).
131. Leonard Woolf
Writer | Baddegama
Leonard Woolf was born on November 25, 1880 in Kensington, London, England, UK. He was a writer, known for Baddegama (1980), Unsolved Mysteries (1987) and New Release (1965). He was married to Virginia Woolf. He died on August 14, 1969 in Rodmell, Sussex, England, UK.
declined a CH in 1966.
132. Julian Barnes
Writer | Love, etc.
Julian Barnes was born in Leicester, England on January 19, 1946 and attended the City of London School, later graduating from a college in Oxford. He worked as a lexicographer for the Oxford English Dictionary in the 1970s. Barnes began working as a reviewer and literary editor for the New ...
declined a CBE.
133. Clive Bell
Music_department | Unbroken
Clive Bell is known for Unbroken (2014), Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) and Topsy-Turvy (1999).
declined CBE in 1953.
134. Michael Billington
Writer | Omnibus
Michael Billington was born on November 16, 1939 in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England, UK. He is a writer, known for Omnibus (1967), The London Programme (1975) and All the World's a Stage (1984). He has been married to Jeanine Bradlaugh since December 12, 1978. They have one child.
accepted an OBE but allegedly declined a CBE. Could be an error.
135. Michael Blakemore
Actor | Country Life
Michael Blakemore was born on June 19, 1928 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He was an actor and director, known for Country Life (1994), Great Performances (1971) and Having a Wild Weekend (1965). He was married to Tanya McCallin and Shirley Bush. He died on December 10, 2023.
accepted an OBE and an AO but allegedly declined a CBE. Could be an error.
136. John Carey
Actor | A Shot at Glory
John Carey was born on April 5, 1934 in Barnes, London, England, UK. He is an actor, known for A Shot at Glory (2000), Pride and Prejudice Revisited (2005) and Arena (1975).
allegedly declined a CBE.
137. John Boorman
Producer | Hope and Glory
John Boorman attended Catholic school (Salesian Order) although his family was not, in fact, Roman Catholic. His first job was for a dry-cleaner. Later, he worked as a critic for a women's journal and for a radio station until he entered the television business, working for the BBC in Bristol. ...
declined a CBE.
138. Julie Christie
Actress | Doctor Zhivago
Julie Christie, the British movie legend whom Al Pacino called "the most poetic of all actresses," was born in Chabua, Assam, India, on April 14, 1940, the daughter of a tea planter and his Welsh wife Rosemary, who was a painter. The young Christie grew up on her father's plantation before being ...
declined a CBE.
139. Brian Eno
Soundtrack | The Lovely Bones
Regarded as one of the best producers and musicians in rock history, Eno started his career in 1971 with Roxy Music. The band released two albums, "Roxy Music" and "For Your Pleasure", with the two Brians in the lineup (the other one was, of course, lead singer Bryan Ferry); a conflict between the ...
declined a CBE in 2007.
140. C.S. Forester
Writer | The African Queen
'Cecil Scott Forester' was born on 27th August, 1899 in Cairo, Egypt. He was educated in England at Alleyn's School and Dulwich College, at neither of which, he said, he made any particular impression except as an extremely naughty boy. He left Dulwich College and attempted to take up medicine but ...
declined a CBE in 1953.
141. Lucian Freud
Actor | Much Too Shy
Freud is the grandson of the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. In 1933, the year the National Socialists came to power, he emigrated to England with his family. Freud attended the Central School of Art and Goldsmith's College in London and the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing in Dedham from ...
declined a CBE in 1977. later accepted a CH in 1983 and an OM in 1993.
142. Trevor Griffiths
Writer | Reds
Trevor Griffiths was born on April 4, 1935 in Ancoats, Manchester, England, UK. He was a writer and director, known for Reds (1981), Food for Ravens (1997) and Bill Brand (1976). He was married to Gill Cliff and Janice Stansfield. He died on March 29, 2024 in Yorkshire, England, UK.
declined a CBE.
143. John Gross
Self | Shylock
He was one of the non-civil service members for the Arts & Media Committee for the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours List.
declined a CBE.
144. Jocelyn Herbert
Editorial_department | Tom Jones
Jocelyn Herbert was born on February 22, 1917 in Hammersmith, London, England, UK. She was a production designer and costume designer, known for Tom Jones (1963), If.... (1968) and Is That All There Is? (1992). She was married to Anthony Baruh Lousada. She died on May 6, 2003 in Long Sutton, ...
declined a CBE in 1981.
145. Trevor Howard
Actor | The Third Man
The son of an insurance underwriter who represented Lloyd's of London in Ceylon, Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith was born in Margate, Kent. He spent his early childhood globetrotting with his mother, frequently left in the care of strangers. After attending private school he went on to study drama at ...
declined a CBE in 1982.
146. Elgar Howarth
Music_department | 200 Motels
Elgar Howarth is known for 200 Motels (1971), Play Away (1971) and Venezuelan Brass Ensemble: Gran Fanfare (2007).
declined a CBE.
147. John Ireland
Composer | The Overlanders
John Ireland was born on August 13, 1879 in Bowdon, Cheshire, England, UK. He was a composer, known for The Overlanders (1946) and BBC Proms (2007). He was married to Dorothy Phillips. He died on June 12, 1962 in Washington, Sussex, England, UK.
declined a CBE in 1959. Composer.
148. Walter Lassally
Cinematographer | Alexis Zorbas
Walter Lassally was born on December 18, 1926 in Berlin, Germany. He was a cinematographer and director, known for Zorba the Greek (1964), Before Midnight (2013) and Heat and Dust (1983). He was married to Nadia Lassali. He died on October 23, 2017 in Crete, Greece.
declined a CBE.
149. C.S. Lewis
Writer | The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
C.S. Lewis was born in 1898 and brought up in a very strict, religious household. While he was quite young, his mother died of cancer but the "stiff upper lip" in favour at the time meant he wasn't allowed to grieve. He became an Oxford don and led a sheltered life. He seriously questioned his ...
declined a CBE in 1951.
150. Ken Livingstone
Actor | Snakes and Ladders
Ken Livingstone is a socialist politician and former Mayor of London. Having been politically active since the late 1960s when he joined the Labour party, he was regarded as part of the "hard Left" of politicians, and dubbed "Red Ken" by some tabloids. He made two unsuccessful stands for Leader of ...
declined a CBE in 2013 New Years Honours List.
151. Philip MacDonald
Writer | Rebecca
British novelist Philip MacDonald was born in London, England, in 1901. His grandfather was the Scottish novelist George MacDonald. As a young man Philip was an excellent horseman; prior to World War I he trained horses bought from Argentina for the British army, and when war broke out he enlisted ...
declined a CBE.
152. Malcolm McDowell
Actor | A Clockwork Orange
Malcolm John Taylor was born on June 13, 1943 in Leeds, England, to working-class parents Edna (McDowell), a hotelier, and Charles Taylor, a publican. His father was an alcoholic. Malcolm hated his parents' ways. His father was keen to send his son to private school to give him a good start in life...
declined a CBE in 1984.
153. Mary Midgley
Self | Thinking Aloud
Mary Midgley was born on September 3, 1919 in London, England, UK. She was married to G.C.J. Midgley. She died on October 10, 2018 in Jesmond, Newcastle Upon Tyne, England, UK.
declined a CBE.
155. Sean O'Casey
Writer | Juno and the Paycock
Sean O'Casey was born on March 30, 1880 in Dublin, Ireland. He was a writer, known for Juno and the Paycock (1929), Pension pro svobodné pány (1968) and The Plough and the Stars (1936). He was married to Eileen Reynolds. He died on September 18, 1964 in Torquay, Devon, England, UK.
declined a CBE in 1963.
156. Gareth Peirce
Self | Miners' Strike 1984: The Battle for Britain
Gareth Peirce was born in 1940 in Cheltenham, England, UK. She has been married to Bill Peirce since 1970. They have two children.
declined a CBE in 1999.
157. Ronald Pickup
Actor | The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Ronald Alfred Pickup was a highly respected, incisive, classically trained character actor who specialized in the portrayal of prominent historical authority figures or crusty academics. He was born in Chester, England, to English and French language lecturer Eric Pickup and his wife Daisy (née ...
accepted an OBE but declined a CBE. Could be possible error in information.
158. Karel Reisz
Director | The French Lieutenant's Woman
Karel Reisz was born on July 21, 1926 in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. He was a director and producer, known for The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) and Morgan! (1966). He was married to Betsy Blair and Julia Coppard. He died on November 25...
declined a CBE.
159. Paul Rogers
Actor | A Midsummer Night's Dream
Widely regarded as one of the greatest stage and screen actors both in his native Great Britain and internationally, Paul Rogers was born in Plympton, Devon, attended Newton Abbot Grammar School, and then trained as an actor at the Michael Chekhov Theatre Studio at Dartington Hall. After serving in...
declined a CBE.
160. Robert Simpson
Writer | Music on 2
Robert Simpson is known for Music on 2 (1965) and Music on Two (1992).
declined a CBE.
161. David Storey
Producer | Corner Gas
David Storey is known for Corner Gas (2004), Hiccups (2010) and Corner Gas Animated (2018).
declined a CBE.
162. Sue Townsend
Writer | Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years
Sue Townsend was born on April 2, 1946 in Leicester, Leicestershire, England, UK. She was a writer and producer, known for Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years (2001), The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole (1987) and The Refuge (1987). She was married to Colin Broadway. She died on April 10, 2014 in ...
declined a CBE.
163. Claire Tomalin
Writer | The Invisible Woman
Claire Tomalin was born on June 20, 1933 in London, England, UK. She is a writer, known for The Invisible Woman (2013), Mrs. Woolf's Room (1980) and Call My Bluff (1965). She has been married to Michael Frayn since June 5, 1993. She was previously married to Nicholas Osborne Tomalin.
declined a CBE.
164. Michael Bogdanov
Director | A Light in the Valley
Michael Bogdanov was born on December 15, 1938 in Neath, Glamorgan, Wales, UK. He was a director and writer, known for A Light in the Valley (1998), The Sherman Plays (1993) and The Thorn Birds (2009). He was married to Ulrike Engelbrecht and Patricia Ann Warwick. He died on April 16, 2017 in Paros...
declined an OBE.
165. Lindsay Anderson
Director | If....
Lindsay was born in Bangalore, India but educated in England at Cheltenham College and Wadham College, Oxford where he was a classical scholar. He then spent 3 years war time service in the Kings Royal Rifle Corps. His career in the theatre started at the Royal Court in the late 1950's where he was...
declined an OBE.
167. Caryl Churchill
Writer | Play for Tomorrow
Caryl Churchill was born on September 3, 1938 in Finsbury, London, England, UK. She is a writer, known for Play for Tomorrow (1982), Court of Mystery (1961) and Masquerade (1974).
declined an OBE.
168. Andrew Cruickshank
Actor | El Cid
Andrew Cruickshank was born on December 25, 1907 in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for El Cid (1961), Kidnapped (1960) and Murder Most Foul (1964). He was married to Curigwen Lewis. He died on April 29, 1988 in Westminster, London, England, UK.
declined an OBE in 1967.
169. Eleanor Farjeon
Soundtrack | Horns
Eleanor Farjeon was born on February 13, 1881 in London, England, UK. Eleanor was a writer, known for Horns (2013), House M.D. (2004) and The Two Bouquets (1953). Eleanor died on June 5, 1965 in Hampstead, London, England, UK.
declined an OBE in 1959.
170. Pam Gems
Actress | Nineteen Eighty-Four
Pam Gems (1 August 1925 - 13 May 2011 ) was an English playwright. She wrote a number of original plays in addition to adapting works by some of Europe's most prominent playwrights. Gems is likely to be best known for the 1978 musical play Piaf. This was adapted for TV in 1984. In the same years as...
declined an OBE.
171. Hughie Green
Actor | Midshipman Easy
Hughie Green was born on February 2, 1920 in London, England, UK. He was an actor and producer, known for Midshipman Easy (1935), Down Our Alley (1939) and If Winter Comes (1947). He was married to Claire Wilson. He died on May 3, 1997 in Chelsea, London, England, UK.
declined an OBE in 1960.
172. George Harrison
Actor | A Hard Day's Night
A master musician, a film producer and actor, best known as the lead guitarist and occasionally lead vocalist of The Beatles, George Harrison was born February 25, 1943, in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. He was also the youngest of four children, born to Harold Harrison and Louise Harrison.
Like ...
was awarded the MBE with the other Beatles. He was offered an OBE in 2000 but he felt that he deserved knighthood like Paul McCartney was awarded in 1997. He declined the OBE in 2000.
173. Tony Harrison
Writer | Prometheus
Tony Harrison was born on April 30, 1937 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, UK. He is a writer and director, known for Prometheus (1998), Aeschylus' Oresteia (Tony Harrison Adaptation), the National Theatre (1983) and Fifty Years on Stage (2013).
declined an OBE.
174. Hamish Henderson
Actor | Play Me Something
Hamish Henderson was born on November 11, 1919 in Blairgowrie, Perthshire, Scotland, UK. He was an actor, known for Play Me Something (1989) and Gramsci: Here and Now (1987). He died on March 8, 2002 in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
declined an OBE in 1983 as protest against Thatcher's government nuclear policies.
175. Jonathan Kent
Director | A German Life
Jonathan Kent was born in 1949 in London, England, UK. He is an actor and director, known for A German Life, Long Day's Journey Into Night and Alan Bennett's Talking Heads (2020).
declined an OBE.
176. Estelle Kohler
Actress | The Main Chance
Estelle Kohler was born on March 28, 1940 in South Africa. She is an actress, known for The Main Chance (1969), BBC Play of the Month (1965) and The Winter's Tale (1999).
declined an OBE.
177. Ian McDiarmid
Actor | Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
Ian McDiarmid was born on August 11, 1944 in Carnoustie, Tayside, Scotland. He studied for a Master's degree in Clinical Psychology at the University of St. Andrews, but eventually found that his calling was in theatre. He went to the Royal Academy in Glasgow, where he received the prestigious gold...
declined an OBE.
178. Paul McGuigan
Director | Lucky Number Slevin
Paul is a Bafta and Emmy nominated director known for Sherlock, Lucky Number Slevin, Inside Man and Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool. Born in Bellshill, Scotland he started his professional life as a photographer and then documentary filmmaker. His first film was Acid House in 1998 which is an ...
declined an OBE.
179. Kenneth McKellar
Soundtrack | Dear Frankie
Kenneth McKellar was born on June 23, 1927 in Paisley, Scotland, UK. He was an actor, known for Dear Frankie (2004), The Beggar's Opera (1963) and The Great Waltz (1972). He was married to Hedy. He died on April 9, 2010 in Lake Tahoe, California, USA.
declined an OBE.
180. Doreen Massey
Self | Money Puzzles
Doreen Massey was born on January 3, 1944 in Wythenshawe, Manchester, England, UK. She died on March 11, 2016 in Kilburn, London, England, UK.
declined an OBE. professor of geography.
181. Eric Porter
Actor | The Day of the Jackal
A highly respected Shakespearean for five decades until his death of colon cancer in 1995, classical actor Eric Porter's claim to international fame would, ironically, be outside of that realm, with one superb portrayal in one superb miniseries, The Forsyte Saga (1967), in which he won the BAFTA ...
declined an OBE in 1969.
182. Dennis Potter
Writer | Gorky Park
Dennis Christopher George Potter was born 17 May 1935 in Berry Hill, a small village in the Forest of Dean, where his grandfather and father were coal miners. Through books, the young Potter found that "words were chariots". He attended school in London and spent two years in the Army. During his ...
declined an OBE.
183. Anthony Sampson
Self | Opinions
Anthony Sampson was born on August 3, 1926 in Billingham, County Durham, England, UK. He was married to Sally. He died on December 18, 2004 in Wardour, Wiltshire, England, UK.
declined an OBE.
184. Jon Snow
Actor | Coriolanus
Jon Snow was born on September 28, 1947 in Ardingly, Sussex, England, UK. He is an actor, known for Coriolanus (2011), Ali G Indahouse (2002) and The IT Crowd (2006). He has been married to Precious Lunga since March 26, 2010.
decliined an OBE.
185. Katharine Whitehorn
Writer | In Their Opinion
Katharine Whitehorn was born on March 17, 1928 in Hendon, North London, England, UK. She was a writer, known for In Their Opinion (1962), A Question of News (1971) and Bullseye (1981). She was married to Gavin Lyall. She died on January 8, 2021 in Hampstead, London, England, UK.
declined an OBE but accepted a CBE after retiring from journalism.
186. Bransby Williams
Actor | Adam Bede
Bransby Williams was born on August 14, 1870 in Bethnal Green, London, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Adam Bede (1918), The Adventures of Mr. Pickwick (1921) and Scrooge (1928). He died on December 3, 1961 in Streatham, London, England, UK.
187. Susannah York
Actress | A Man for All Seasons
The lovely Susannah York, a gamine, blue-eyed, cropped-blonde British actress, displayed a certain crossover star quality when she dared upon the Hollywood scene in the early 1960s. A purposefully intriguing, enigmatic and noticeably uninhibited talent, she was born Susannah Yolande Fletcher on ...
declined an OBE.
188. Kenneth Williams
Actor | Carry on Cleo
The acting bug bit Kenneth Williams when, as a student, his English teacher suggested he try out for a school play. He found that he enjoyed it tremendously, but when he raised the possibility at home of becoming an actor, his father forbade it. Williams was eventually sent to art school in London ...
declined an OBE in 1969.
189. Benjamin Zephaniah
Actor | Peaky Blinders
Benjamin Zephaniah was born on April 15, 1958 in Handsworth, Birmingham, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Peaky Blinders (2013), Percy Lifar and EastEnders (1985). He was married to Amina. He died on December 7, 2023 in the UK.
declined an OBE in 2010.
190. Joseph Corré
Writer | Fashion Cuts: A Peep Show
Corre was born on 30 November 1967, in Clapham, England to fashion designer and businesswoman Vivienne Westwood and Sex Pistols's former manager and entrepreneur Malcolm McLaren. His surname comes from his father's maternal grandmother, who was a Sephardic Jew from Portugal.
As a child, he would ...
declined MBE in 2007.
broadcaster declined an MBE.
192. Bob Holman
Self | Michael Wood's Story of England
Bob Holman was born on November 8, 1936 in Ilford, Essex, England, UK. He was married to Annette. He died on June 15, 2016 in the UK.
academic/community activist in Easterhouse. declined an MBE.
193. John Lydon
Soundtrack | Point Break
John Joseph Lydon, more popularly known by his former stage name, Johnny Rotten, is an English singer, songwriter and author. He is best known as the frontman of the British punk band Sex Pistols, one of the most influential acts in the history of popular music. The band originally lasted from 1975...
declined an MBE.
194. John Pandit
Soundtrack | Le dernier diamant
John Pandit is known for The Last Diamond (2014), Mass E Bhat (2014) and From Cable Street to Brick Lane (2012).
declined an MBE in 2002.
195. Joan Smith
Self | One Rogue Reporter
Joan Smith was born on August 27, 1953 in London, England, UK. She was previously married to Francis Wheen.
declined an MBE.
197. Alan Watkins
Writer | BBC 3
Alan Watkins was born on April 3, 1933 in Tycroes, Carmarthenshire, Wales, UK. He was a writer, known for BBC 3 (1965), Election 74 (1974) and Question Time (1979). He died on May 8, 2010 in London, England, UK.
declined an MBE.
198. Rachel Whiteread
Self | Sensationalists: The Bad Girls and Boys of British Art
Rachel Whiteread was born in 1963 in London, England, UK.
declined an MBE.
199. Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
Actress | A Lesson
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown was born on December 10, 1949 in Uganda. She is an actress, known for A Lesson, The Sundays (1998) and The Night Motown Sang for Sickle Cell Anaemia (2020). She has been married to Colin Brown since 1990. They have one child. She was previously married to Shiraz Alibhai.
renounced her MBE in 2003.
200. Roy Bailey
Self | Folk Britannia
Roy Bailey was born on October 20, 1935 in Bow, East End London, England, UK. He was married to Val Turbard. He died on November 20, 2018 in the UK.
renounced his MBE in 2006.
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