Celebs who turned Queen’s Birthday Honours down including Nigella Lawson

For most stars, it's a once in a lifetime achievement.

But there have been many famous faces who have rejected the opportunity to be included in the Queen’s Honours List.

Honours usually will be revealed twice a year, at the Queen's Birthday in June and to mark the New Year.

This year’s coveted list was due to be announced back in June but it was delayed to the Autumn to honour those in the Covid-19 fight.

The PM Boris Johnson announced the delay back in May.

The list was announced on Friday with celebrities including Sir David Attenborough and Mary Berry leading the way.

However, over the years many celebrities have actually turned down the chance to receive an honour from HRH.

From children's author Roald Dahl to film director Alfred Hitchcock, celebs have snubbed the awards.

As many as 277 people declined the Queen's Honours in the New Year or Birthday Honours lists from 1951 to 1999, the Cabinet Office confirmed in 2012.

Since the official list of those who had declined honours were first published, it has become increasingly common for celebs to reveal their refusal.

Before that, it had been relatively rare to do so.

The Monty Python star was offered a CBE in 1996 but he said they were "silly".

He was offered a peerage by Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown in 1999 - he declined because he felt staying in England during the winter months to fulfil his role as a working peer was "too much of a price to pay".

In 2008 Hawking said he had been approached with an offer of a knighthood in the late 1990s but had turned it down.

It was later said it was down to the government's dealing with science funding and cuts.

Bowie himself later explained his decision not to join the list of musical knights including Sir Mick Jagger, Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Elton John.

He said: “I would never have any intention of accepting anything like that. I seriously don’t know what it’s for. It’s not what I spent my life working for.”

When asked about Jagger accepting the honour, he said: “It’s not my place to make a judgment on Jagger, it’s his decision. But it’s just not for me.”

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory author Roald Dahl rejected an OBE in the 1986 New Year’s Honours.

The former Beatle turned an OBE down in 2000 - after Paul McCartnery was awarded a knighthood.

Every Beatles member was awarded an MBE in 1965, though Lennon returned him.

It's thought he was put forward for his contribution to music, but there was speculation that Harrison would have been insulted that McCartney got his knighthood three years before.

“Whoever it was who decided to offer him the OBE and not the knighthood was extraordinarily insensitive,” friend Roy Connolly told the Independent . “George would have felt insulted – and with very good reason.”

The celeb chef turned down the offer of an OBE in 2001, though it's not known why.

Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders pairing turned down OBEs "for services to comedy drama" in 2001. It was only later they explained. Saunders said: “If I felt I deserved a Damehood I’d accept it,” she told Source magazine.

“At the time, we felt that we were being paid very well to have a lot of fun. It didn’t seem right somehow.

“We didn’t deserve a pat on the back. It felt a bit fake to stand alongside people who devoted their lives to truly worthy causes.”

The musician rejected his CBE in 2006. In a statement his spokesperson said: “Paul was surprised and flattered, but it wasn’t really for him.”

Having declined an OBE in 2000, Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow went on to make a documentary in 2002 entitled ‘Secrets of the Honours System’.

He remains critical of the use of ‘Empire’ in our honours system.

“I tried to find out why I’d been given it and was unable to get a clear answer or, indeed, to find out who had proposed me," he said afterwards.

Danny Boyle, director and man behind the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony, turned down an honour because he thought it was "was wrong".

"It's just not me", he said. He added thousands were involved in executing the ceremony.

“You can make these speeches about ‘this is everybody’s work, blah blah blah’," he said.

“And you’ve got to mean it, and I did mean it, and it is true, and it’s the only way you can carry on something like that: through the efforts of all the people.

“I don’t know whether I’ll ever get invited back to the Palace.”

John Lennon famously sent his MBE back in protest at British involvement in the Nigerian civil war in 1966.

He included a note to the Queen saying: “Your Majesty, I am returning this in protest against Britain’s involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam and against Cold Turkey slipping down the charts.

"With Love, John Lennon of Bag.”

The late author, JG Ballard, who rejected a CBE, once said: “Thousands of medals are given out in the name of a non-existent empire.

"It makes us look a laughing stock and encourages deference to the crown.

“I think it is exploited by politicians and always has been.”

Other famous faces who have refused the Birthday Honours

CS Lewis, writer (d 1963), turned down CBE in 1952 Graham Greene, writer (d 1991) turned down CBE in 1956 JB Priestley, writer (d 1984), rejected peerage in 1965 and Companion of Honour in 1969 Francis Bacon, artist (d 1992) turned down CBE in 1960 Robert Graves, poet (d 1985) rejected CBE in 1957, and CH 1984 CS Forester, writer (d 1966) turned down a CBE in 1953 Eleanor Farjeon, author (d 1965) turned down OBE in 1959 John Ireland, composer (d 1962), turned down CBE in 1959 Major Derek Allhusen, Equestrian Olympic medallist (d 2000), turned down MBE in 1969 Albert Finney turned down a CBE in 1980 and a knighthood in 2000

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