Evelyn Waugh was one of those whose names appeared in the surprisingly long list, just released, of people who have declined honours. Late in life he wrote to Graham Greene: “Some years ago I refused the CBE from side (not good enough, I thought) and am now ashamed.” He was then urging Greene to accept an invitation from the Royal Society of Literature to become a Companion of Literature. (This is not of course a state honour.) He probably didn’t know that Greene had also refused a CBE. Greene later relented and accepted a CH (Companion of Honour) and OM – the publication of the list disproves the commonly held belief that if you refuse one honour, you are never offered another.
Evelyn Waugh appears in the recently released list of people who have declined honors (he refused the offer of a CBE in 1959). Allan Massie's blog post in The Telegraph provides some details and has a link to the complete … Continue reading