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Several stars associated with the county have declined OBEs (Officer of the Order of the British Empire), Knighthoods and Damehoods.
This is because they didn’t feel the honour was deserved as they didn’t wish to endorse the government and because they didn’t agree with the system.
This comes after the latest list of honoured individuals included Oxford East’s Labour MP Anneliese Dodds who becomes a Dame for parliamentary and political service.
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Dame Anneliese, who lives in Rose Hill, said she was “delighted” to have received the award.
She added: “It’s always about the team.”
Max Richter, a German-born British composer and pianist who lives in the Cotswolds, has also been made a CBE for his services to music.
In addition, earlier this year former England football captain David Beckham was officially made a Knight by King Charles III.
However, according to media reports deceased professor Stephen Hawking declined a knighthood in the late 1990s because of the UK government’s science funding policy.
The world-famous professor was born in Oxford and studied physics at University College.
Filmmaker Ken Loach – who studied law at Oxford University – rejected an OBE in the 1970s because he thought it “despicable”.
Speaking to the BBC in 2001, the director of Kes (1969) and I, Daniel Blake (2016) said: “It’s all the things I think are despicable: patronage, deferring to the monarchy and the name of the British Empire, which is a monument of exploitation and conquest.
“I turned down the OBE because it’s not a club you want to join when you look at the villains who’ve got it.”
Jon Snow, who is best known as the presenter of Channel 4 News between 1989 and 2021, was chancellor of Oxford Brookes University from 2001 to 2008, having attended St Edward’s School in Summertown as a child.
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He declined an honour as he felt it would impact his journalistic integrity and went on to lead a documentary about the system.
Celebrity chef Nigella Lawson, who read Modern Languages at Lady Margaret Hall, refused an OBE in 2001 as she felt undeserving of the honour.
She said she was not “saving lives” but instead doing something she loved for a living.
The former head of Formula 1, which has strong links with Oxfordshire, Bernie Ecclestone also reportedly declined honours as he felt he didn’t deserve them.
The Williams F1 racing team has headquarters in Grove and the Haas manufacturing team is in Banbury.
