| Honours |
[Jun. 16th, 2009|09:41 pm] |
I am more than ambivalent about the British honours system; by and large I feel there is more honour in refusing than in receiving these relics of empire, these signs of Prime Ministerial favour. But -
In among the OBEs in the Queen's bithday honours list is the following cunningly disguised author: "The Hon Peter Malcolm de Brissac Dickinson, Author and poet. For serv literature"
Hooray! It is only right and proper that Peter Dickinson should be honoured with any honours at our disposal, and if that includes office in the Order of the British Empire, I will bear it bravely. Now I'm waiting for the Crime Writers' Association to get its act together and recognise the quality and inventiveness of his crime fiction with its Diamond Dagger Award.
Bonus piece of information from the man himself, guest posting in Robin McKinley's blog: the Queen's bithday honours are issued, not on the Queen's birthday, but on George III's. "When he died in 1820 he'd been king for so long, and his birthday on June 4 was conveniently far from the New Year, that they decided to hang on to it, so Her Majesty also gets to have an almost normal birthday whenever it is, with candles on the cake and the family rallying round and telling her she's wonderful." |
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| Comments: |
"The Hon Peter Malcolm de Brissac Dickinson, Author and poet. For serv literature"
Yay!
Also, that is an awesome guest post.
Yes - honours *and* pantyhose.
It's interesting how much better an author must be than an industrialist or a politician, before getting a gong. (I think I'm in bitter mode today - still, I'm pleased that he's being recognised.)
Mostly this is a subject on which I'm cynical, if not bitter - and there are certainly jobs where a gong is part of the pension plan - but today cynicism has been suspended! | |
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