Today David beckham received an honour from the Queen for his services to football, It's blatantly obvious that Johnny Wilkinson and Martin Johnson will also receive honours. I'm sure they will accept the honours with grace and acknowledge they couldn't have done it without the rest of their team, coaches, mothers, fathers, etc etc. BUT would they be given the honours if they hadn't been part of the winning team (say THEY LOST BY A POINT IN THE FINAL)?
I think not!
My question is how do you reward outstanding performances in any field of endeavour without leaving out the others who were involved. (Going back to the Rugby if Martin Johnson gets an award then his mentor Dean Richards must be in line for Sainthood )

Earlier this year my boss received an Honour from the Queen (last month actually from the same batch of Honours as Becks), actually I think she was wearing the same dress as she did today but that is by the by. In honouring him, we all felt honoured and were absolutely thrilled for him, I am positive that no one thought that he ought not to have been given it or that he only got it because he is the boss.

We know all about the Honours system now and how to apply, it was us that asked for him to be honoured by the Queen.

It would seem to me that the Queen showed a tremendous lack of class and couth by limiting the honours to that player and presumably the other players as well. She obviously has no understanding of sports whatsoever, as the honours should have been given on a team basis.

I really doubt that it's the Queen's fault that not all players were honored. She might have ultimate responsibility, but I'm sure that her staff makes the selection.

Actually it has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the Queen until she has to give them the medals, any UK citizen, or citizen of a Commonwealth country of which the Queen is head of state, can be considered for an Honour, provided that her/his service is to the UK or that s/he is working for the benefit of the UK overseas. Foreign nationals may be considered for Honorary Awards.

Nominations can be made by anyone but normally they come from some organisation. If you are interested you can read the process here

Outside the UK there is a slightly different nomination process, for instance here we send a nomination to Government House rather than the Cabinet Office. We asked the Chair of our Management Committee to nominate our boss for an Honour as we felt it would be better coming from her, it took about two years before he finally received it.

As many of you won't know what happens, if a person is honoured their name is published in the press, locally and nationally. If they are not celebrities they might get quite a lot of local publicity. A couple of months after the Honours List is published (they are June and New Year) the person together with up to three guests will attend Buckingham Palace and the recipient will be congratulated by the Queen who will pin the medal on them. Obviously there is a little more to it if a person is knighted, they get dubbed with the sword!

As well as the ceremony and medal, the recipient will receive
a superb document signed by the Queen and Prince Philip, quite magnificent.

It is possible to purchase a video of the ceremony personalised in such a way as to make it look as if it was just for you, and photographs, the video is supposed to be excellent, I must borrow the boss's copy sometime.

There my be exceptions but I'm seem to remember that honours only used to be given after many years of service in a particular field. As regards sport, how old was Stanley Matthews when he received honours? I know he contributed 33 years to the sport. I think he got the CBE after 10 years of outstanding sportsmanship. It was a similar story with Fiery Freddie Trueman wasn't it?

I realise times change but it does seems that honours can be earned by sportsmen and entertainers after only few years of service these days. I'm sure it was once more of a 'lifetime achievemen't' thing. How old are David Beckham and Johnny Wilkinson?

I wonder if those who have provided years of service to their country before recieving honours would feel that, in some instances, they are given too quickly, so devaluing the system somewhat.

Think back to your youth Martin, do you remember the hoo haa when the Beatles were honoured? Quite a number of people returned their own honours as they were so upset.

Yes it did all start with them. Even back then I can remember being surprised. I'd never heard of a group or a singer receiving honours up until then. They were probably quite surprised too. I think it may have been something to do with Harold Wilson wanting to appear to be a 'good bloke'.

They were a 'one off' at the time though. I don't remember anyone else of that era being honoured at such a young age (was there?). Even though I'm a big Beatles fan I still think that they hadn't put enough years in at the time to receive honours.

I was surprised that Beckham got an Honour, as you say it is normally after years of excellence or one really special event, such as being the first person to row the Atlantic or sail around the world solo.

Most private individuals who receive Honours will have given many years of community service before they receive recognition, most never receive any as no one thinks to put their names forward.

Did anyone happen to notice Posh Spicey's hat for that ceremony? She looked like a bird had died on her head!
She deserves an award to have had the nerve to wear that in public.
And I also remember the Beatles getting the award and the big deal over it.There were people who sent their's back and later if I remember correctly John sent his back in protest over something.
It seems to me it doesn't mean the same as when they first awarded them to people.Shame really as it seems like a lovely honor to receive.
PF

I can't think of another way to honour someone other than to award them a trophy (medal) or name something after them.

For those not in the UK, the whole of the England rugby squad were honoured, not just a few prominent ones. Most received MBEs, Jonny got an OBE, Martin a CBE and the coach got a knighthood. Very fair.

Eric Clapton CBE!!!!!!!
ERIC IS GOD (oops!! sorry I couldn't help shouting, just this once!!)