Michael Deacon

Lords of laughter

Great actors and great sportsmen now almost expect a knighthood. Why are great comedians limited to lesser honours?

issue 01 January 2011

What do the following comedians have in common? Morecambe and Wise, Ronnie Barker, Frankie Howerd, Bob Monkhouse, Peter Sellers.

They’re all dead, yes. But something else. None of them was knighted. Instead they were all made OBE, an honour Michael Winner once charmingly described as ‘what you get if you clean the toilets well at King’s Cross station’.

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