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Dateline: 22nd December, 2003 Thanks, but No Thanks! The Sunday Times has published a leaked government document which reveals the names of 300 people who have turned down honours over the years. Included are David Bowie, who turned down a CBE, and Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders who turned down OBEs, all in 2000. During the premiership of John Major, Alan Bennett turned down a knighthood and John Cleese a CBE. Other refusals came from, at various times, Albert Finney (CBE in 1980, knighthood in 2000), Honor Blackman, J B Priestley, Trevor Howard and Alistair Sim. When Ian McKellen was offered a knighthood under Margaret Thatcher (the offer arrived on the day in which she was ousted from office), he was at first determined to refuse it, but was persuaded by friends that for one of their number to be a knight would be a good thing for the gay community. Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
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