The British honours System
Honours are awarded twice a year on the Queen’s official birthday in June and at the New Year. The list usually has approximately 1350 names split into three sections: the Prime Minister’s list, the Diplomatic and Overseas list, and the Armed Forces list. It’s easy to nominate someone for an honour. You fill in a form which then, if it is selected by the expert committee, goes to the Prime Minister for review. Those people selected for the award have to agree to accept the award before the list goes to the Queen for formal approval. The Cabinet Office reports that around 98% accept the award. However not everyone wants to receive an honour.

Would you turn one down?
A leaked secret document from Whitehall listed 300 people who have each declined an honour, and it reads like the who’s who of the entertainment world. It includes singer David Bowie, comedy duo Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, author JG Ballard, celebrity cook Nigella Lawson and children’s author Roald Dahl. The Salford painter LS Lowry turned down a record five separate honours, and John Lennon returned his MBE in protest four years after he had accepted it.

Why would you turn it down?
If you are offered an honour you are sworn to secrecy, so we don’t always hear who has turned down the offer. Only a few have gone public with their reasons including Rastafarian poet Benjamin Zephaniah who turned down an OBE because it symbolised colonialism and Britain’s association with slavery. Others feel the system is out dated and that it is ridiculous to award an honour like the Order of the British Empire (OBE) when there isn’t an empire.

Social values
Although you can nominate anyone for an honour the majority of awards still go to civil servants and military figures, not everyday people who contribute to their community. The Honours system does reward the ‘unsung heroes’ like lollipop ladies and hospital porters but could do more to promote social values if there was more recognition.

Lucy
January 2008