Posted on 05/17/2010 8:09:25 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Simon Cowell is being lined up for a knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.
The Britain’s Got Talent and X Factor judge, 50, is expected to be dubbed “Sir” for his charity work and generating millions for the British record industry.
The man who launched singers like Leona Lewis and Susan Boyle is thought to have been recommended by Gordon Brown before he last week resigned as Premier .
Cowell surprisingly endorsed David Cameron to lead Britain in the final few days of campaigning. But Mr Brown had made no secret of his admiration for the mastermind behind the star-studded fundraising CD for the victims of this year’s Haiti earthquake.
Cowell, who has even dined at No10 with Mr Brown and wife Sarah, helped to raise almost £1million for the appeal by getting the likes of Robbie Williams and Rod Stewart to help record Everybody Hurts.
Now Westminster sources say he will be knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours on June 12.
One insider said: “Gordon Brown was very keen for Simon to get proper recognition for his work.
“He was particularly impressed by the way Simon responded to his suggestion to release the record for Haiti by dropping everything to ensure it was a success.
“And there’s also no doubt Simon has brought a great deal of happiness to millions of people with his music and TV shows.”
As well as donating millions each year to various charities and animal rescue centres, Cowell is a patron of Children’s Hospices UK and vowed to campaign for increased funding for hospices.
Meanwhile, the X Factor is shown in 17 countries while the Got Talent franchise is broadcast in 27. A close source added: “It would be an absolutely huge achievement and a wonderful tribute to all he’s achieved professionally.
“Simon deserves the honour because he does so much work behind the scenes for charity and publicly supports good causes.
“He has also generated millions in the music and entertainment industries, created thousands of jobs and helped make Sony a multinational conglomerate.
“Simon has always joked he’d be last in line for a knighthood. But, deep down, it’s his dream.”
The Syco Music co-owner, whose personal wealth is an estimated £165million, is set to wed make-up artist Mezhgan Hussainy soon.
He was unavailable for comment last night. But in a Mirror interview last year, he put his chances of being a Sir at “below zero”, saying: “I never did all this to get a knighthood. I am very lucky to do what I do and feel privileged.”
LOL Like his ego isn’t big enough
Boy, has a knighthood been devalued! The only entertainers who used to get one were the finest of Shakepearean actors, like Olivier, Gielgud, Ralph Richardson, etc.
When does he get his Nobel?
Alfred Hitchcock and Charlie Chaplin both got it.
I’m waiting for Obama to get his.
Geez, they hand out those Knighthoods like bar napkins anymore.
Is this what old blighty has become?
After the way he’s treated them?
Citizens of countries which do not have the Queen as their head of state sometimes have honours conferred upon them, in which case the awards are “honorary”. In the case of knighthoods, the holders are entitled to place initials behind their name but not style themselves “Sir”.
Examples of foreigners with honorary knighthoods are Billy Graham, Bill Gates, Bob Geldof, Bono and Rudolph Giuliani, while Arsène Wenger and Gérard Houllier are honorary OBEs. Honorary knighthoods arise from Orders of Chivalry rather than as Knights Bachelor as the latter confers no postnominal letters.
Recipients of honorary awards who later become subjects of Her Majesty may apply to convert their awards to substantive ones. Examples of this are Marjorie Scardino, American CEO of Pearson PLC, and Yehudi Menuhin, the American-born violinist and conductor. They were granted an honorary damehood and knighthood respectively while still American citizens, and converted them to substantive awards after they assumed British nationality, becoming Dame Marjorie and Sir Yehudi. Menuhin later accepted a life peerage with the title Lord Menuhin.
Tony O’Reilly, who holds both British and Irish nationality, uses the style “Sir”, but has also gained approval from the Irish Government to accept the award as is necessary under the Irish Constitution. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, the German soprano, became entitled to be known as “Dame Elisabeth” when she took British nationality. Irish-born Sir Terry Wogan was initially awarded an honorary knighthood, but by the time he collected the accolade from the Queen in December 2005, he had obtained dual nationality and the award was upgraded to a substantive knighthood.
Bob Geldof is often erroneously referred to as “Sir Bob”; he is not entitled to this style as an honorary knight as he is a citizen of the Republic of Ireland, who do not have the British sovereign as their Head of State.
There is no law in the UK preventing foreigners from holding a peerage, though only Commonwealth and Irish citizens may sit in the House of Lords. This has yet to be tested under the new arrangements. However, some other countries have laws restricting the acceptances of awards by foreign powers, in Canada, where the Canadian House of Commons has opposed the granting of titular honours with its Nickle Resolution, then Prime Minister Jean Chrétien advised the Queen not to grant Conrad Black a titular honour while he remained a Canadian citizen.
Lord Twit of Arrogance
He wrote a piece of the Sun leading up to the elections calling for a return to family values.
Cowell, 50, talks of the need to inspire young people and unlock talent, promote family values, stimulate business and reduce knife crime.
Yes, but Hitchcock and Chaplin received theirs late in their lives (in the 1970s and 1980s). By that time, the spectrum of who received knighthoods had already expanded greatly. At any rate, both of these men were far more prestigious and significant artistic figures than Cowell.
Famous quotes from Sir Simon Cowell :
“If your lifeguard duties were as good as your singing, a lot of people would be drowning.”
“If you’ve got a big mouth and you’re controversial, you’re going to get attention.”
“You’ve got quite a good voice, the problem I have is this looks to me like 10 years ago.”
“Shave off your beard and wear a dress. You would be a great female impersonator.”
“I have a horrible feeling that this song is going to be a hit”
“The object of this competition is not to be mean to the losers but to find a winner. The process makes you mean because you get frustrated.”
“Frank (Sinatra) was the king of cool. If he was a lion, you were a mouse.”
“Let me throw a mathematical dilemma at you - there`s 500 left, well how come the odds of you winning are a million to one?”
“Sit in these auditions for three weeks and hear I Believe I Can Fly” out of tune for the millionth time, YOU try and be nice”
“I have heard some bad performances in my time. And I can honestly say that is one of the worst of them.”
“No, what I am doing is kind by telling people who are useless `Do something that you`re good at`. So I would only feel guilt if I misled somebody who was terrible.”
“The end of the animal trade would leave more time to trap or beat to death pop star wannabes.”
“I met someone the other night who`s 28 years old, and he hasn`t worked a day since he left college because he`s pursuing a dream he`ll never, ever realize: He thinks he`s a great singer. Actually, he`s crap.”
“If I said to most of the people who auditioned, `Good job, awesome, well done,` it would have made me actually look and feel ridiculous. It`s quite obvious most of the people who turned up for this audition were hopeless.”
“I`d accept an honour but I don`t think I`m likely to get one. The Queen once described me as a dreadful man”
Why not Ryan Seacrest too?
Good for him! He has certainly brought the UK some added fame. I bet he gives a boat load of cash to charity as well.
“He is actually kind of conservative. “
He’s also a self-made man who worked hard to get where he is, and he is very, very generous. IMO he gets to BE a little egotistical.
No quarrel here with Simon.
That piece of his on conservatism made me a real fan.
He tells the ‘Idol’ contestants the truth.
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