Knighthood for Christopher Lee

[kiramdear]

The man you love to hate gets a little love from the Queen.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090613/peo ... us_britain

[winston]

Well done Christopher. Mine must be in the mail.

[kiramdear]

I doubt if any greater actor was ever responsible for more bad movies than Lee Was there any Hammer Films production that didn't star Christopher Lee? Seems that way. Hey, we loved 'em.

[romo1950]

Hammer house of Horrors, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, used to go to the movies in my younger days to watch these, used to scare the C**p out of us back then.
Congratulations to Sir Christopher Lee

[antipodean]

You mean Count Dooku? Or WIllie Wonka's dad? 'bout time for a knighthood is all I can say....

[Ontario_RIC_fan]

I loved his musical performance as the King of Elfland on the 1977 Peter Johnson/Bob Knight concept album THE KING OF ELFLAND'S DAUGHTER. He can really sing!

It is great that he has been honoured with the Knighthood... Most likely for his charity work, rather then his portrayal of "the count"...

[leftybass]

You mean Count Dooku? Or WIllie Wonka's dad? 'bout time for a knighthood is all I can say....

When he's knighted, he should tell HM The Queen that, "You know, I have been a Count for years already..."

[whojamfan]

Yes, that should count for something..........

Yes, the man made more b-horror movies than Jason, Michael Myers, and Freddie Kruger put together. I thought that was cool how the Star Wars series brought him and Cushing back together, even if it wasn't in the same movie, and gave Sir Alec Guiness a proper place in cinematic history. Good to see him get his due.

Not to be funny, but other than getting to add "Sir" in front of your name, what all do you get out of it other than a certificate and a dinner? Can you ride the country side in search of damsels in distress, or dragons to slay? Quest for the Holy Grail perhaps? Ok, so the last bit was a little cheeky, but obviously, I have no idea. I'm sure some representatives from the crown will clue me in, or clue me in to a crown on the head

[paologregorio]

Well, you have some folks who didn't read the article wondering what "MBE" means on occasion when they see it next to his name.

[kiramdear]

The article doesn't say which level he's been awarded. I assume it's MBE which elevates him to Peerage, but I don't think we get to call him Sir Chris, and he doesn't get the old one-two with Excalibur. I think McCartney only got that 10 years ago after being MBE since '65.

[rickenbrother]

Well done Christopher. Mine must be in the mail.

You're next in line after me!

[paologregorio]

The article doesn't say which level he's been awarded. I assume it's MBE which elevates him to Peerage, but I don't think we get to call him Sir Chris, and he doesn't get the old one-two with Excalibur. I think McCartney only got that 10 years ago after being MBE since '65.

I liked the fact that the article defined the designations of "MBE", "CBE", and "OBE"; once upon a time, before Google, I asked a Briton what "OBE" meant and he didn't know. No offense intended to Britons; there are plenty of facts about Americana that the average joe American doesn't know, as anyone who's watched Jay Leno has been made glaringly aware of.

[winston]

OBE is the Order of the British Empire. It was started by King George V. This order of knighthood is for both civilian and military wartime service as well as civilian peacetime service to the country and the Queen.

Joey you have to be a citizen so you are completely out of luck. I still reckon mine is in the mail. After all I did the country the greatest service of all.............I left.

[antipodean]

OBE is the Order of the British Empire. Joey you have to be a citizen so you are completely out of luck. I still reckon mine is in the mail. After all I did the country the greatest service of all.............I left.

Brian, you can lob in an OBE (etc) as a Commonwealth citizen if your services are recognised as beneficial to the UK - Kylie has one and she still holds her Aussie passport. As we know from the case of Bob Geldof, you don't need to be a citizen of the Commonwealth to be knighted.

Kira - there is a huge matrix of "honours" in the UK - the peerage means you have a title like "Lord", "Lady" and is superior to Knighthood/Damehood (if that's a word). The CBE (Commander of the British Empire)/OBE/MBE ("Member of the British Empire") awards are "junior" to a knighthood or damehood.

Apart from John Lennon handing his OBE back in protest (and his great accompanying letter), the best comment on the whole UK honours gig was by the UK satirists, The Goodies, at the prospect of someone being granted the title of Earl in addition to simultaneously being awarded an OBE: "That would make you an Earlobe!"

[wints]

His mother was a Contessa, so he's never been far from the mix.

I'm surprised that many Brits don't know what an OBE is. We learnt all that basic stuff back in the 60/70's at school. My favourite is the Order of St Michael and St George, which, at entry level is the CMG, known in the trade as "Call me God". Next step up is the KCMG. Now, "Kindly Call Me God" is the order of the day, until you are at the top of the tree as a GCMG..."God calls ME God " .

No, I'm not making this up...