Some say ‘No, sir’ to queen

? Sir Mick Jagger was delighted to become a knight. Keith Richards called it a disgrace. As with the Rolling Stones, so with British society: Some crave titles, some refuse them, some consider it all a joke.

Still others, like Winston Churchill, change their minds — perhaps when later offered a higher rank or from a government more to their taste.

The Sunday Times this week published a list of 300 people — including singer David Bowie, comedian John Cleese and actors Albert Finney and Kenneth Branagh — who declined honors since 1945.

About 2 percent of the 3,000 people chosen each year decline, according to the government. Most do so quietly, but last month poet Benjamin Zephaniah publicly rejected an OBE — Officer of the Order of the British Empire — because the title reminded him of “thousands of years of brutality.”

“Stick it, Mr. Blair and Mrs. Queen; stop going on about empire,” he wrote in The Guardian newspaper.

After the list was published, Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government promised to make the system of awarding knighthoods and other honors more open.

Twice a year the government announces recipients of a host of titles, from knighthoods and damehoods to Companions of Honor, for exceptional achievement or service to the nation.

Though the honors are bestowed by Queen Elizabeth II, most recipients are chosen by committees of civil servants from nominations made by the government and the public.

The government wants to increase diversity on the selection committees — currently largely white, male and over 60 — and among recipients. Government statistics show that between 2 percent and 4 percent of the top honors go to ethic minorities, who make up about 8 percent of the population.

The Cabinet Office said all decisions about honors were made “entirely on merit.”

Churchill said he could not accept a knighthood of the Order of the Garter from King George VI after losing the 1945 election — “given the order of the boot by the people,” as he put it.

But in 1953, back in power, Churchill accepted a knighthood from the queen.

New honorees will be announced next week.