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The following is a partial list of people who have declined a British honour, such as a knighthood or an honour within the Order of the British Empire. In most cases, the honour was rejected privately; others were rejected publicly, or accepted then returned later, as with John Lennon and Rabindranath Tagore (although the honour itself, once accepted, cannot be unilaterally renounced by its recipient). Some potential recipients have rejected one honour then accepted another one (such as Sir Alfred Hitchcock), or have initially refused an honour then accepted it, or have accepted one honour then declined another (such as Vanessa Redgrave), or refused in the hopes of another (Roald Dahl was offered an OBE but refused because he wanted a knighthood so that his wife would be Lady Dahl). This often has as much to do with the political party in power as anything else, since honours are widely seen as being political rewards. Sometimes a potential recipient will refuse a knighthood or peerage, but will accept an honour that does not carry a title (Paul Scofield, Doris Lessing, Harold Pinter and Augustus John are examples).
Many of these were identified in December 2003 when a confidential document containing over 300 names of such people was leaked to The Sunday Times:
- Peter Alliss, golfer and commentator (declined OBE in 2002)
- Frank Auerbach, artist
- Charles Babbage, scientist
- Francis Bacon, artist (declined CBE in 1960 and CH in 1977)
- J. G. Ballard, author (declined CBE in 2003)
- Nancy Banks-Smith, television critic (declined CBE in 1970)
- Peter Benenson, founder of Amnesty International (declined knighthood)
- Alan Bennett, playwright (declined knighthood in 1996 and CBE in 1988)
- Sir Isaiah Berlin, OM, philosopher (declined life peerage in 1980)
- Honor Blackman, actress (declined CBE in 2002)
- David Bowie, musician (declined CBE in 2000)
- Sir Francis Boyd, journalist (declined CBE in 1967; accepted knighthood in 1976)
- Kenneth Branagh, actor and director (declined CBE in 1994)
- Jim Broadbent, actor (declined OBE in 2002)
- The Lady Callaghan of Cardiff, campaigner and fundraiser (declined DBE)
- Sir Winston Churchill, KG, OM, CH, statesman (declined dukedom in order to remain in House of Commons and to allow his son a political career)
- John Cleese, comedian (declined CBE in 1996)
- John Cole, journalist (declined CBE in 1993)
- Joseph Conrad, author (declined knighthood)
- Hugh Cudlipp, OBE, editor (declined knighthood in 1966 and 1973 and life peerage in 1974)
- Roald Dahl, author (declined OBE in 1986)
- Bernie Ecclestone, owner of Formula One commercial rights (declined CBE in 1996)
- Albert Finney, actor (declined CBE in 1980 and knighthood in 2000)
- Michael Frayn, dramatist (declined CBE in 1989 and knighthood in 2003)
- Dawn French, comedienne (declined OBE along with Jennifer Saunders)
- Lucian Freud, artist (declined CBE in 1977; accepted CH in 1983 and OM in 1993)
- John Galsworthy, novelist (declined Knighthood, accepted OM)
- Robert Graves, poet and novelist (declined CBE in 1957 and CH in 1984)
- Graham Greene, author (declined OBE in 1956; accepted CH in 1966 and OM in 1986)
- Thomas Hardy, novelist/poet (declined Knighthood, accepted OM)
- Lenny Henry, comedian (declined OBE; accepted CBE)
- Sir Alfred Hitchcock, director (declined CBE in 1962; accepted KBE in 1980)
- David Hockney, artist (declined knighthood in 1990; accepted CH in 1997)
- Charles Holden, architect
- A.E. Housman, poet
- Trevor Howard, CBE, actor (declined knighthood)
- Aldous Huxley, author (declined knighthood in 1959)
- Augustus John, artist (declined a knighthood on a number of occasions, probably at the urging of his wife; accepted OM)
- Anish Kapoor, artist
- Rudyard Kipling, author and poet (declined knighthood)
- Philip Larkin, poet (declined OBE 1968 on grounds that he deserved a higher honour; accepted CBE 1975 and CH 1985; also declined Laureateship 1984)
- Richard Lambert
- T. E. Lawrence, CB, DSO, World War I soldier, diplomat, and author (declined KCB)
- Nigella Lawson, cook (declined OBE)
- John Le Carré, author (declined CBE)
- John Lennon, musician (accepted, then returned, MBE)
- Doris Lessing, author (declined OBE in 1977 and DBE in 1993; accepted CH in 2000)
- C.S. Lewis, author, Oxford professor (declined knighthood to avoid association with any political issues)
- Ken Loach, director (declined OBE)
- L. S. Lowry, artist (declined OBE in 1955, CBE in 1961, knighthood in 1968, and CH in 1972 and 1976; holds the record for the most honours declined)
- Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum (declined knighthood in 1999)
- Alexander Mackenzie, Second Prime Minister of Canada (declined knighthood as he thought it an affront to his Scottish heritage)
- Hank Marvin, guitarist (The Shadows) (declined OBE)
- Barry McGuigan, boxer (declined MBE in 1986; accepted MBE in 1994)
- Dan McKenzie, earth scientist (declined knighthood; accepted CH)
- George Melly, musician, artist and raconteur (declined CBE in 2001)
- Dame Helen Mirren, actress (declined CBE in 1996; accepted DBE in 2003)
- William Martin Murphy, industrialist, MP
- Sir V. S. Naipaul, author (declined CBE in 1977; accepted knighthood in 1990)
- Harold Pinter, playwright (declined knighthood; accepted CH)
- Anthony Powell, writer (declined knighthood; accepted CH)
- J. B. Priestley, OM, playwright
- Vanessa Redgrave, CBE, actress (declined DBE in 1999)
- Keith Richards, guitarist (The Rolling Stones) (declined CBE)
- Jennifer Saunders, comedienne (declined OBE along with Dawn French)
- Paul Scofield, CH, CBE, actor (has declined a knighthood on several occasions)
- Alastair Sim, CBE, actor (declined a knighthood)
- Savenaca Siwatibau, Fijian academic (declined CBE)
- Joan Smith, journalist
- Jon Snow, newscaster (declined an OBE, then investigated and presented a Channel 4 documentary Secrets of the Honours System *)
- Rabindranath Tagore, author and poet (knighted in 1915; returned knighthood in 1919 to protest the Amritsar massacre)
- Claire Tomalin, journalist and biographer
- Polly Toynbee, columnist (declined CBE in 2000)
- Ralph Vaughan Williams, composer (declined a knighthood; accepted OM)
- Maharajkumar of Vizianagram, cricketer (knighted in 1936; returned knighthood in 1947 on India's independence)
- Evelyn Waugh, novelist (declined CBE in 1959)
- Michael Winner, director (declined OBE in 2006)
- Pearl Witherington, Special Operations Executive agent
- Rachel Whiteread, artist (declined MBE in 1997; accepted CBE in 2006)
- Bill Woodfull, cricketer
- Benjamin Zephaniah, poet (declined MBE)
"List of people who have declined a British honour"