Hugh Laurie: Celebrities who turn down honours are 'pompous'

Hugh Laurie has branded celebrities who turn down honours "pompous".

The star of Blackadder and House and the long-time comic partner of Stephen Fry accepted his own CBE in 2018 for services to drama, an upgrade on his previous OBE.

Laurie has confessed that he considered rejecting the most recent honour, before some frank advice from his son persuaded him not to take the path of pomposity.

Ken Loach, the filmmaker, has reportedly turned down such honours in the past, along with Jon Snow, the Channel 4 news presenter, and David Bowie, who declined an OBE.

After his deliberations Laurie decided against being "up himself", and accepted his own award with good grace.

The actor and musician believes that honours are simply part of the system in which stars operate, and there is a self-importance to turning them down.

He described his thought process on The Graham Norton Show, where he was joined by his Cambridge University contemporary Dame Emma Thompson.

"I did wonder about the whole meaning of the thing and whether it is something one should be participating in," Laurie said of being approached with the offer of a CBE.

"But my son came up with something wise, which was that you'd have to be so up yourself to turn it down.

"It was a very good way of looking at it and there is something vaguely pompous about withdrawing from it, it's just part of the system."

He added that despite only having ambitions to row at Cambridge, he "ended up doing all this la-di-da stuff",

Numerous British luminaries have refused to play along with this aspect of the system, with John Cleese turning down honours and a peerage, and Stephen Hawking declining a knighthood.

More traditionalist literary figures often associated with the establishment have also snubbed any additions to their name. Rudyard Kipling decided against a knighthood, and Evelyn Waugh turned down a CBE in the Fifties.