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Should Have Been Knighted?


Gardian
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We were watching 'The One Show' earlier this evening, which is often a waste of time. (Yes ........ why do we watch it, but sometimes there's the odd thing of interest).

This evening they had as a guest William Frankland, distinguished Immunologist, aged 99 (100 in a few weeks time). This gentleman worked with Fleming and from his wikipedia entry, has clearly been a major influence in his field.

He's more than a few decades older than me and (from what Mrs G just said) considerably less ga-ga than me!

As far as I can see, no CBE, MBE, OBE, much less a knighthood.  Makes a nonsense of the award system, eh?   

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[quote user="Russethouse"]Perhaps he turned down the recognition[/quote]

I was thinking that as well. If you take the Knighthoods out of the equation for a minute a lot of "unknown" people have received  other awards for doing things from which either specific groups or society in general has benefited from.

You can of course nominate the chap yourself if you wish http://www.royal.gov.uk/MonarchUK/Honours/Honoursnomination.aspx Please note, he said sarcastically, that knighthoods cannot be bought (click on the word 'Knighthood' on the left hand side of the web page).

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[quote user="PaulT"]

It does seem that certain spheres of activity get higher rewards than others. Take the Attenboroughs:

One is an actor and director who entertains so make him a Lord

The other is a naturalist who educates and inspires so make him a Sir

 

[/quote]

I recall ages ago reading a story - surely apocryphal - that the wrong brother got the original knighthood in 1976. David was put up for the honour for all the worthy things he had been doing, and the recommendation went to the honours committee as just "D Attenborough". Regrettably (or perhaps not) the cabinet secretary at the time was a film buff who wasn't aware that David even existed, and he remarked to his assistant secretary "What a silly billy you are: Dicky Attenborough's name really starts with an R". So he crossed out the D and put it up for final approval with Richard's name on it.

It then took a long time for David to get any official recognition at all (he was finally knighted in 1985).

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I think Hester should get a knighthood for donating his bonus to the UK tax payer, sacking all the incompetent idiots that got it in to trouble, bringing in the new staff with proven track records, offloading the bad debt on to others banks (saving the UK tax payer a few more billion) and for sorting out RBS in general. [:D]
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[quote user="Araucaria"]I recall ages ago reading a story - surely apocryphal - that the wrong brother got the original knighthood in 1976. David was put up for the honour for all the worthy things he had been doing, and the recommendation went to the honours committee as just "D Attenborough". Regrettably (or perhaps not) the cabinet secretary at the time was a film buff who wasn't aware that David even existed, and he remarked to his assistant secretary "What a silly billy you are: Dicky Attenborough's name really starts with an R". So he crossed out the D and put it up for final approval with Richard's name on it.

[/quote]

Interesting - but absurdly silly.

David had been a BBC executive, Controller of BBC2, and was considered a candidate for Director-General. There wasn't a politician or civil servant who did not know who he was. Richard's peerage was announced at the same time as that of Yehudi Menuhin - clearly a good day for high art and culture.

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