Bill Gates, Knight Commander of the British Empire

[Scuffer]

Nope, a KBE doesn't equate to being 'Sir', despite the word 'Knight' being in both. In other words a 'Knighthood' is different to being a 'Knight of the British Empire'.

Yes, it is stupid, but think of it as the result of hundreds of years of lawyers trying to establish precedent and ending up with a bunch of compromises to keep everyone happy.

 

[sysyphus]

Does one have to be British to be "Sir" or just a Commonwealth citizen?

 

[Scuffer]

I'm not sure. Aussie Donald Bradman (Babe Ruth of cricket) was certainly Sir Don. Sir Conrad Black (orignally Canadian, prick, and failed media tycoon) gave up Candian citizenship to be awarded the title. Maybe the rules have changed or Sir Don gave up Aussie citizenship.

 

[sysyphus]

Black was forced to give up his Canadian citizenship by the Canadian government to obtain his peerage, not the British government. Note though there is a difference here, peerage is not the same as knighthood. I'm pretty sure he's "Lord Black", not "Sir Black".

Now that I think about it, several Canadian Prime Ministers have been knighted, and use the title "Sir", the most recent I believe was Sir Robert Borden, who was Prime Minister in the 1920s.

This may have been possible at the time, but not long after Borden's term, there was an amendment of the British North America act, which redefined Canada as a more indemendent nation, and thus reduced the "Britishness" of Canadians.

If anyone can think of a non-British Commonwelath citizen who has been knighted (and uses the title "Sir") since then, I'd certainly like to know.

 

[Scuffer]

Sir Don Bradman is definitely one such example, knighted in 1949 and very much Australian. However, in 86 Australia changed laws to be more independant from Britain, which may the same principle as the laws mentioned above.

 

[Yuri2356]

Now that I think about it, several Canadian Prime Ministers have been knighted, and use the title "Sir", the most recent I believe was Sir Robert Borden, who was Prime Minister in the 1920s.

I believe that it was customary at the time to knight the Prime Ministers of a member of the Empire, but by the time Borden was finaly out of office it wasn't an option anymore.

 

[tjedge1]

Did he have any script input in ... Judge Dread or one of the Rocky epics or .... can he spell

I've heard he is actually smarter than he sounds, and I do believe that he wrote Rocky or most of it anyway. The Rocky movies didn't come from his mind, but in fact a real boxer (forgot his name). Sly just tried taking all the credit. Pretty much got away with it. Media sure didn't help out the guy who thought it up as they wouldn't put him on the air. He wrote some other movies as well and a few did pretty good, but I can't remember which ones. He kind of does what Drew Barrimore does now. Writes and produces a movie so he can star in it.

 

[EdwardTking]

I find this all extremely embarassing.

Another example of Tony Blair licking the US arse.

Only thing I would give Bill Gates is a CD Rom loaded with Unix.

Frankly if Her Majesty the Queen goes along with supporting foreign monopolist capitalists instead of British traditions, we might as well become a Republic.