It's fairly typical of Cameron's psyche though. Murray trousers £1.8 million and Camoron thinks that deserves a knighthood



Compare that to the 1966 World Cup winning team:



Only two knighthoods (Bobby /Charlton & Geoff Hurst)



It took 34 years to recognise Alan Ball, Roger Hunt, Nobby Stiles, Ray Wilson and George Cohen with MBEs

I don't think there's any chance of a Sir for Andy, but I think as usual most people miss the point when it comes to honours. You can minimise or denigrate what he achieved with a facetious "well he only just won a tennis game, and got well paid for it", but then you are deliberately ignoring the facts, you are irrationally discounting the true measures of the achievement. Which, on any view, is a massive achievement. It's a bit like saying Edmund Hillary "only climbed to the top of a hill". Yes, but which hill, and who did it last?



The honours system is IMHO in large parts broken, but equally I have seen huge numbers of awards for unsung heroes who have just quietly worked to help others for many years, or some such, and those sort of awards are richly deserved, and mean so much to the recipients.



I expect there's a greater than 50/50 chance Murray may get a knighthood though, bearing in mind recent form (Bradley Wiggins, anyone?) and he and Wiggins certainly would deserve one a damn sight more than some buggins' turn civil service penpusher.

Couple of questions for everyone...



1. If you met a Knight of the Realm would you call him "Sir", would you address him as "Sir Andrew" for instance ?



2. If you met Sir Andrew in a pub and he introduced himself as Sir Andrew how would that affect your opinion of him ?





Do you know anyone with one of the lesser medals, OBE for instance, who puts "OBE" at the end of their name when signing things, and would you do so if enobled ?

1. Errr, no.



2. I'd laugh hilariously.

I agree with you (for a change). If I were Murray I'd be embarrassed to be called "Sir" whilst still playing.



Speaking of Lowry we're going to the Tate (all being well) on Satuday. Parking space / tickets reserved. Been to Salford before but Mrs D was keen to go and see some of hs work again. I like it too. Reminds me of childhood when the family still owned a mill.

Have done so – and no. Have managed to meet royals and not use any particularly deferrential words, although still managed to be completely polite.









I'd think he was a plonker – a bit like Ben Kingsley, who went around demanding he be addressed in such a manner for some time after his knighthood.

The opportunity is too good to miss ...





[url=http://thevoluptuousmanifesto.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/lowry-painter-for-world.htmlLowry at the Tate[/url



[url=http://thevoluptuousmanifesto.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/lapping-up-lowry.htmlLowry at the, err, Lowry (and the Manchester Art Gallery)[/url

We have a client who insists of signing all his correspondence with MBE after his name. Twattish.

Erm, his cheque went to the Royal Marsden. Didn't make a song and dance about it, just did it.



There is a place for an honours system in a modern society but handing out gongs for winning a bike race or a tennis tournament isn't the way forward.



Mind in saying that, sports personality of the year is pretty much sewn up.

I am also of the opinion that anyone who isn't medically qualified, is a prick if he insists on using the title Dr.



And don't get me started on those who have been awarded honorary doctorates

Many years back I was waiting for a bus when bloke next to me announced totally out of the blue, as an opening line to the conversation that he was "A Sir", I managed to show a awesome amount of disinterest in that revelation and he promptly shut up.

1. It would depend entirely who it was, and my personal estimation of them. When I have met Geoff Boycott, I have always made a point of calling him Sir Geoff. I think the polite thing to do would be a bit like meeting your bird's dad -it would be "Mr. " which if he wasn't a tit should lead immediately to a "call me Fred" reply. Again, of those I've met, very few revel in or want to be called by their title, but where a nobody is speaking to a kegend then the alternatives seem, to me, inappropriate. Say you were a reporter for the Wigan Herald and you were interviewing Sir Alex Ferguson. You never met before. I would say that calling him "Alex" unbidded would be plain damn rude. Calling him "Mr. Ferguson" would be plain silly, as you are being politely deferential, by using a formal title, but you are using the wrong one. I would feel perfectly comfortable sticking with "Sir Alex".



2. He would be a first class knob.



3. No, and no.