English Knighthoods

[kirennia]

Are these completely meaningless these days? I still have absolutely no idea why they started being handed out to just about every half decent actor and sportsperson there is these days... why did this even start?

 

[Fast]

I hear ya, but it also reminds me of the james cordon sport relief sketch

 

[kirennia]

I hear ya, but it also reminds me of the james cordon sport relief sketch

Didn't see it but the very fact that got mentioned as the first comment makes me /sigh.

 

[Fast]

hehe sorry to sound blah, but yea you should receive a Knighthood for fighting for your realm! whereas we have Knights such as Sir Paul, Sir Mick, Sir Cliff...does make you wonder.

 

[Raven]

Sing it with me, Things can only get better, can only get, can only get, better.

 

[Ch3tan]

hehe sorry to sound blah, but yea you should receive a Knighthood for fighting for your realm! whereas we have Knights such as Sir Paul, Sir Mick, Sir Cliff...does make you wonder.

It depends entirely on what they do for others, celebrities tend to get honours because they do a lot of charity work and use their status for good.

 

[Wij]

Sir Wij has a nice ring to it.

 

[MYstIC G]

Not the last time I looked it didn't. It's ring had been horribly overused and abused.

 

[ford prefect]

Are these completely meaningless these days? I still have absolutely no idea why they started being handed out to just about every half decent actor and sportsperson there is these days... why did this even start?

Quite a long time really. Actors have been getting honours for over a hundred years, if memory serves, it started with Sir Henry Irving around 1900 ish. Now it tends to be a matter of how much you do for charity rather than how famous you are. Of course it can also be for contributing to or advancing the excellence a specific field too.

 

[Wij]

Not the last time I looked it didn't. It's ring had been horribly overused and abused.

I've had a ring lift.

 

[kirennia]

hehe sorry to sound blah, but yea you should receive a Knighthood for fighting for your realm! whereas we have Knights such as Sir Paul, Sir Mick, Sir Cliff...does make you wonder.

Not your fault mate, it's just the way it goes I guess.

Quite a long time really. Actors have been getting honours for over a hundred years, if memory serves, it started with Sir Henry Irving around 1900 ish. Now it tends to be a matter of how much you do for charity rather than how famous you are. Of course it can also be for contributing to or advancing the excellence a specific field too.

Indeed, I just checked, the first musician to get a knighthood was in 1903 too with Henry Bishop. I didn't know it'd been going on for that long, just kind of annoyed that OBEs, knighthoods, whatever do seem to slip through to people purely on an entertainment level which...well maybe I shouldn't have a problem with it.

My grandfather on my mothers side was knighted for services to the country, I just still presume they should be handed out for exactly that.

 

[ford prefect]

I supposed it depends on how you look at it. Elton John for example has single handedly raised millions for charity and his AIDS Foundation is one of the biggest in the world. That seems to me to be as worthy reason to get a knighthood as defending your country ect.

 

[kirennia]

I supposed it depends on how you look at it. Elton John for example has single handedly raised millions for charity and his AIDS Foundation is one of the biggest in the world. That seems to me to be as worthy reason to get a knighthood as defending your country ect.

Indeed, don't get me wrong, I'm not against them getting knighthoods fullstop, not at all. Some musicians, actors and the like deserve it, many don't.

 

[MYstIC G]

I've had a ring lift.

Since this morning?

 

[Embattle]

Entertainment tend to be the ones you hear most about.

 

[Zenith.UK]

Sir Matthew Pinsent definitely earned his as well as Sir Steve Redgrave. They managed to earn Olympic gold medals 4 times in succession (5 for Sir Steve) which is no mean feat. The sport of rowing may not be as high profile as the main track events at the Olympics but they exemplify hard work, training and self-discipline.

On an episode of "Who Do You Think You Are?" from series 4, Sir Matthew was shown to be related to God... and no I'm not joking.

 

[rynnor]

You can always donate between £30-50k to Con or Lab if you fancy a knighthood - Wij's could be 'for services to spamming'.

 

[MrHorus]

Many, many people get honours but we only tend to hear about the famous ones - the ordinary joes tend to slip under the radar.

My old headmaster had an OBE for services to education or some guff like that. I dunno if it made him a good teacher or what but I can tell you that we were all shit scared of the bloke!

 

[rynnor]

Many, many people get honours but we only tend to hear about the famous ones - the ordinary joes tend to slip under the radar.

My old headmaster had an OBE for services to education or some guff like that. I dunno if it made him a good teacher or what but I can tell you that we were all shit scared of the bloke!

OBE's go to some decent people but a lot of knighthoods are bought by donating funds to political parties.

There was some analysis last year on it - everyone who gave £50k got a knighthood.

 

[Gwadien]

"Kinghthood" has always been fake to me, since forever - for example, mainly Officers were given knighthoods, and did they fight? - barely, they sat on their arse giving instructions, whereas the lads out there actually doing stuff and fighting, they don't get knighthoods, they get awards, it pathetic in my eyes.

 

[yaruar]

OBE's go to some decent people but a lot of knighthoods are bought by donating funds to political parties.

There was some analysis last year on it - everyone who gave £50k got a knighthood.

They should leave knighthoods where they belong as rewards to high level long serving civil servants, which is about how much meaning they have. Soldiers get proper medals anyway, as for entertainers, they get millions of shiny 1 pound coins instead.

 

[kirennia]

They should leave knighthoods where they belong as rewards to high level long serving civil servants, which is about how much meaning they have. Soldiers get proper medals anyway, as for entertainers, they get millions of shiny 1 pound coins instead.

This was also my thinking about the whole thing. It's a shame really.

 

[kirennia]

OBE's go to some decent people but a lot of knighthoods are bought by donating funds to political parties.

There was some analysis last year on it - everyone who gave £50k got a knighthood.

Really?

Oh well, I guess everything gets corrupted over time anyhow; I'm still proud to have a grandfather knighted in my family although granted, I never got to meet him due to his late choice in life to have my mother.

For anyone interested:
Engineering Timelines - explore ... who

Sir Evan Owen Williams (/slap that site for missing his first name...).

He was knighted at 33 for his work on Wembley among other things, didn't pay anyone off to get it and helped engineer a number of buildings and roads around England which are still standing today (If you live in England, you've seen/been on some of them, guaranteed ).