Queen's Birthday Honours

[Tony Halstead]

"For services to Composing and Crossing Musical Genres"

Do I detect a slight whiff of snobbishness on this board?

[MrGongGong]

Do I detect a slight whiff of snobbishness on this board?

Never in here

[french frank]

Do I detect a slight whiff of snobbishness on this board?

It makes you think, though, that Karl Jenkins is the first Welsh composer to receive a knighthood. That, at least, has to be a sign of the times - not that he receives a knighthood but that others didn't. Mathias and Hoddinott were given CBEs so, for good or ill, it shows that the musical landscape has changed.

[jean]

But surely the difference between Jenkins on the one hand and Mathias and Hoddinott on the other is not that it is newly acceptable to be Welsh?

[Mary Chambers]

Do I detect a slight whiff of snobbishness on this board?

I'm feeling distinctly snobbish

[Richard Tarleton]

To me it all seems so random. Julian Bream said how he was sometimes addressed as Sir Julian, possibly in local Wiltshire shops, and had to explain he wasn't. But why not?

[Bryn]

It makes you think, though, that Karl Jenkins is the first Welsh composer to receive a knighthood. That, at least, has to be a sign of the times - not that he receives a knighthood but that others didn't. Mathias and Hoddinott were given CBEs so, for good or ill, it shows that the musical landscape has changed.

Grace Williams was offered an OBE but turned it down.

[muzzer]

I'm reminded (imperfectly I expect) of that line about the world being divided into those who like VM's music and those who have met him.

[MrGongGong]

To me it all seems so random.

Maybe its should REALLY be random?

A few crumbs for the peasants
and lots of "honours" for the donors, civil service and military

It really stinks

[Nick Armstrong]

Knighthoods for James MacMillan,...

Don't forget Sir Neville Marriner becoming a Companion of Honour...

[VodkaDilc]

On further reflection, the whole thing is rubbish.

Agreed. Not only the whole system, but the strange distinctions between awards. Is Sir J MacMillan a better composer than M-A Turnage CBE? Either get rid of the whole system (preferred choice) or just have one honour for all (without silly titles).

[french frank]

But surely the difference between Jenkins on the one hand and Mathias and Hoddinott on the other is not that it is newly acceptable to be Welsh?

???

I was quoting from a Welsh news source which pointed out that KJ was the first Welsh composer to be given a knighthood. Not sure what it has/has not to do with the 'acceptability' of being Welsh (a concept with which I am unfamiliar).

[mercia]

in the way that (I would imagine) a BAFTA may be more significant to an actor than a CBE, I could imagine that a Gramophone Award or Honorary DMus might mean more to a musician than a "state" award (do they still give out honorary DMusies ?)

[Serial_Apologist]

???

I was quoting from a Welsh news source which pointed out that KJ was the first Welsh composer to be given a knighthood. Not sure what it has/has not to do with the 'acceptability' of being Welsh (a concept with which I am unfamiliar).

One thing I do well remember about Bristol, having lived and worked there for some years, was the long-term grudges still being directed against "outsiders" for indignities suffered by locals as long ago as the 1930s. The instance I'm thinking of was the replacement of striking workers at the then Armstrong Siddeley plant in Filton by "scab" labour, namely long-term Welsh unemployed miners, going back to the time of the Slump, prepared to take their jobs on lower pay rates.

We had a Welsh fellow at my place of work who was a bit of a racist, always on about there being "too many blacks in the country", etc. One day I just happened quietly to remark that he might not have noticed that Welsh people were not particularly popular in Bristol. That shut him up!

I'm talking about the 1970s here - I'm sure such attitudes would be in the minority in the Bristol of today.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Grace Williams was offered an OBE but turned it down.

Do we know why?