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Help John Surtees to a knighthood


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#151 Richard Jenkins

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Posted 31 December 2016 - 11:26

Worth mentioning Susie Wolff got a MBE in the New Year's Honours. That is a well deserved gong.

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#152 2F-001

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Posted 31 December 2016 - 11:39

Maybe Surtees has now acquired a renown something akin to that of Moss: 'the greatest driver (rider) not to have been knighted'.

 

Sorry if that seems flippant, but I'm struggling to give this too much importance; we know the regard in which he's held around theses parts - maybe we can be content with that.



#153 ensign14

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Posted 31 December 2016 - 11:49

Worth mentioning Susie Wolff got a MBE in the New Year's Honours. That is a well deserved gong.

 

Wow.  I'm expecting Pippa Mann to be ennobled in that case.



#154 BRG

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Posted 31 December 2016 - 19:51

Either :-

 

a) Surtees has been offered and turned down a K without making a song and dance about it (unlike Lynn Fauld Woods who has loudly rejected an OBE because she objects to the word 'Empire' - stupid cow.  Would you turn down a VC because the Queen's name is now Elizabeth?) Or,

 

b) Surtees has royally pissed off the whole political establishment so that he will only get a K over their collective dead bodies (we can but hope!).



#155 PCC

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Posted 31 December 2016 - 22:34

...stupid cow...

Hmmmm... is it really necessary to call someone that simply because she has a different point of view on such honours?

 

I suppose someone from Scotland is more likely to be aware of the negative connotations of the word 'empire' than someone from Surrey... There are, you know, people in the world for whom the Union Jack is not an unequivocally happy symbol. I'm not belittling British history, I'm just pointing out that any empire is morally complicated and we shouldn't trash people for being reluctant to embrace the notion.

 

But perhaps I'm just a dumb ox.



#156 kayemod

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Posted 31 December 2016 - 23:55

Hmmmm... is it really necessary to call someone that simply because she has a different point of view on such honours?

 

I suppose someone from Scotland is more likely to be aware of the negative connotations of the word 'empire' than someone from Surrey... There are, you know, people in the world for whom the Union Jack is not an unequivocally happy symbol. I'm not belittling British history, I'm just pointing out that any empire is morally complicated and we shouldn't trash people for being reluctant to embrace the notion.

 

But perhaps I'm just a dumb ox.

 

Maybe if the word "Empire" was substituted by "deep-fried", she'd have felt differently, but her attention seeking speech on declining the offer seemed petty and bogus to me. I think that almost certainly John Surtees has been offered some appropriate honour and politely and quietly declined it. Any reasons he might have had are entirely up to him, it would have been pretty classless if he'd rushed to the media to complain about it as Faulds-Wood has done.

 

In any case, an honour is an honour, I can't really see that the wording is all that important.

 

Whatever, we all think very highly of John Surtees, honour or no honour, it makes no difference at all.



#157 TecnoRacing

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Posted 01 January 2017 - 00:24

I think that almost certainly John Surtees has been offered some appropriate honour and politely and quietly declined it.

 

Surtees does have a CBE



#158 DCapps

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Posted 01 January 2017 - 04:15

It's the Congressional Medal of Honor, and it is the nation's highest award for valor in battle. It is hardly "handed out." It certainly is not in any way comparable to any award given for "good works" or for simply being famous.

(Actually, it is simply the Medal of Honor, there being no "Congressional" in the title of the award. Having had a recipient as a neighbor and another recipient commissioning me as an officer, along with 33 years in the Army, you are aware of the actual name of the award.)

It's possible you have confused it with the Presidential Medal of Freedom which is given rather arbitrarily and even capriciously by the occupant of the White House, particularly the current one.

(Not to be confused with the often "arbitrarily and even capricious" awards of the Presidential Medal of Freedom by previous occupants of the White House from a different political party, of course...)



#159 RA Historian

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Posted 01 January 2017 - 15:32

Surtees does have a CBE


Didn't he receive that in the last year or two? Also, correct me if I am wrong, but I seem to recall reading
somewhere that when one receives an honor a gap of five years or so is observed before consideration is given
to another. I, of course, am speaking from the other side of the pond and as such am quite ignorant of the
British honors system and the awarding of such honors.

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#160 sabrejet

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Posted 01 January 2017 - 16:37

It's the Congressional Medal of Honor, and it is the nation's highest award for valor in battle. 

 

It's just Medal of Honor (there's no "Congressional" unless you're a Hollywood scriptwriter): it's like calling the UK equivalent the "Parliamentary Victoria Cross".



#161 DogEarred

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Posted 01 January 2017 - 18:01

Didn't he receive that in the last year or two? Also, correct me if I am wrong, but I seem to recall reading
somewhere that when one receives an honor a gap of five years or so is observed before consideration is given
to another. I, of course, am speaking from the other side of the pond and as such am quite ignorant of the
British honors system and the awarding of such honors.

 

It's much longer than that. I'm still waiting....



#162 kayemod

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Posted 01 January 2017 - 18:07

...it's like calling the UK equivalent the "Parliamentary Victoria Cross".

 

Is that the one named after Mrs Beckham OBE?



#163 2F-001

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Posted 01 January 2017 - 18:48

As 'RA Historian' thought, John Surtees was awarded his CBE in the previous honours list, twelve months ago. (for services to motor sport - no mention of charitable or other activities).

 

I think his MBE was in the 60s, wasn't it? 'Upgraded' to OBE seven or eight years ago.

 

I've no idea of the required interval, if any, between bestowal of honours within the same Order - or of a different order.

 

As I mentioned before, CH seems fitting, but it wouldn't change what I think of him.


Edited by 2F-001, 01 January 2017 - 18:51.


#164 Tim Murray

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Posted 01 January 2017 - 19:17

His MBE was awarded in 1959 and his OBE in 2008. He is obviously proud of his honours, as he mentions his CBE several times on his website:

http://www.johnsurtees.com/?page_id=90

I find it hard to believe he'd have turned a knighthood down.

#165 ensign14

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Posted 01 January 2017 - 20:25

Didn't he receive that in the last year or two? Also, correct me if I am wrong, but I seem to recall reading
somewhere that when one receives an honor a gap of five years or so is observed before consideration is given
to another.

 

When it comes to going from CBE to KBE, 5 years is the general period.  That's why Bruce Forsyth had to wait for his knighthood.  Got his CBE in 2006, knighthood in 2011.



#166 BRG

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Posted 01 January 2017 - 21:06

I suppose someone from Scotland is more likely to be aware of the negative connotations of the word 'empire' than someone from Surrey... 

True. The British EMpire was very largely won and administered by the Scots.  The same Scots who are so quick to trot out their history at the drop of a sporran.  If LFW can't get her head around the idea that the Order of the British Empire is simply the historic name for an honour, then she is indeed a stupid cow.

 

Oh and incidentally, some of us Scots live in Surrey you know...



#167 PCC

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Posted 01 January 2017 - 22:06

If LFW can't get her head around the idea that the Order of the British Empire is simply the historic name for an honour, then she is indeed a stupid cow.

It is also an explicit reference to and celebration of an imperial history which not everyone considers to be a cause for celebration.

 

I really don't understand the need to hurl crude insults at people who have different views. Are you like this when using your real name too?



#168 brucemoxon

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Posted 01 January 2017 - 23:47

Has anyone thought to complete one of these?


https://www.gov.uk/g...national-honour

 

 

 

Bruce Moxon



#169 RA Historian

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Posted 02 January 2017 - 15:09

When it comes to going from CBE to KBE, 5 years is the general period.  That's why Bruce Forsyth had to wait for his knighthood.  Got his CBE in 2006, knighthood in 2011.



Thanks, that is what was sticking in the back of my mind.

Tom

#170 bill p

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Posted 02 January 2017 - 15:53

Has anyone thought to complete one of these?
https://www.gov.uk/g...national-honour

 Bruce Moxon


Yes, that's all you have to do rather than complain every year that Big John has not been Knighted.......

#171 Charlieman

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Posted 02 January 2017 - 19:41

His MBE was awarded in 1959 and his OBE in 2008. He is obviously proud of his honours, as he mentions his CBE several times on his website:

http://www.johnsurtees.com/?page_id=90

I find it hard to believe he'd have turned a knighthood down.

I think you are right. John Surtees will use his name in every way to boost his own name, for the charities he supports.