OBE just did not fit McIlvanney

Published on Saturday 22 August 2009 19:52

ONE of Scotland's most celebrated writers has revealed he turned down an OBE, comparing the honour to "putting a top hat on a man in a boiler suit".

William McIlvanney said, unlike artist and writer John Byrne who rejected an MBE for services to art and literature last month to signify his "absolute disgust" at the Iraq war, his decision was private.

Speaking to Scotland on Sunday from his Glasgow home, the 72-year-old said he had written to Downing Street to say he would not be accepting the OBE for "purely personal" reasons.

"It's something that I tried on in my mind, and I found it didn't fit," he explained. "The sleeves were too long, and it just wasn't part of me. It felt like trying to put a top hat on a man in a boiler suit.

"The idea of rejecting an honour isn't something I've done with any anger, or to demean other people. There are a lot of people who carry out unsung work. I'm only too happy for them to be recognised. "

McIlvanney was approached as part of the Queen's Birthday Honours.

McIlvanney, a contributor to Headshook, a new Scotland on Sunday anthology of Scotland's leading writers, said: "

There have been a lot of honours given for dubious reasons in the past, like providing your wife as the king's bedwarmer. The system is riddled with ludicrous elements."