The Beatles' George Harrison refused a royal honor, the OBE, before he died.
The Beatles got an MBE, a member of the British Empire, in 1965. Dozens of Brits who had received the honor returned their medals in protest. George Harrison, at the time, said The Beatles deserved their medals more, because they didn't win it by killing anyone. They got theirs for making music. John Lennon famously said the Beatles smoked a joint in the royal bathroom before accepting the honor.Lennon also famously returned his MBE in 1969.
In "The Beatles Anthology" George Harrison said they got their medal for selling corduroy and making England swing. George also denigrated the honor as a piece of leather with a cardboard string. Harrison didn't get much respect for the honor as he got older. In 1999, Harrison refused a similar honor, the OBE, the Order of the British Empire.
George Harrison started the concept of big-name benefit concerts with his "Concert for Bangla Desh" show, album and film, but Paul McCartney was knighted. That's why the press calls him Sir Paul instead of his old monicker Beatle Paul. Now it has been revealed that The Beatles guitarist refused an OBE before his death.
According to England's The Mail, documents from the Cabinet Office, that they got through England's the Freedom Of Information Act, show that Harrison down the chance to be included in the New Year's Honours List in 2000. Harrison died in 2001.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport recommended that Harrison be awarded the OBE for his contribution to the England's music industry. The citation read: "He was a member of a band that many people would say is the best thing that Britain has ever produced, and possibly the best in the world, The Beatles."
Ray Connolly, a journalist acquaintance of The Beatles, speculated that the "My Sweet Lord" singer might have seen the OBE as an insult because it was less an honor than Paul McCartney's 1997 knighthood. Connolly said "Whoever it was who decided to offer him the OBE and not the knighthood was extraordinarily insensitive. George would have felt insulted - and with very good reason."
