Now that brilliant thespian Patrick Stewart and blockbuster director Peter Jackson have been knighted in the United Kingdom and New Zealand respectively, who's next in line for the royal treatment?
Can you say Sir Patrick McGoohan?
Stewart, the resolute anchor of the Star Trek: The Next Generation and The X-Men franchises, is a nearly peerless Shakespearean virtuoso. Meanwhile, Jackson not only brought J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings universe to lucrative cinematic life, but he also built New Zealand into a film-production powerhouse perhaps on par with Hollywood.
Sure, the British monarchy hands out these honors to practically anyone these days. HSBC Bank's chief executive Dyfrig John even got one this year, although his bank has declared more than $50 billion in losses since he came aboard three years ago.
But that's the point: Anyone can be knighted. So why not pick someone cool? Because they think the monarchy sucks?
That's an even better reason to select them.
Stewart and Jackson, whose New Zealand knighthood is sanctioned by Queen Elizabeth, are a great start. Here are 10 more hardy souls, including some who have already refused knighthood or deserve a posthumous nod.
Why? Just because.
Patrick McGoohan: Two words. The Prisoner. Plus, he served several seasons as geopolitical fixer John Drake in Danger Man. Be seeing him, Queen.
Ricky Gervais: He redefined television comedy in the new millennium with The Office, spawning a host of replicants and pretenders. Even Spinal Tap's Nigel Tufnel calls Gervais the funniest man on the planet.
Alan Moore: I'm almost sure the comics genius would decline with patented distaste. But the brainiac behind Watchmen and V for Vendetta deserves it. And they know it.
Grant Morrison: The only comics mentalist tall enough to outrun Moore's shadow, this mad Scottish writer is a controversial choice. But Morrison embodies controversy like the Queen embodies tea parties.
David Bowie: The man behind Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, the Thin White Duke and other sonic personas said no to the Queen in 2003. "I seriously don't know what it's for," he cracked.
Charles Darwin: Who deserves knighthood more than Darwin? We'll check the annual tradition's evolution in a couple centuries from now and find out.
Stephen Hawking: This brilliant theoretical physicist needs knighthood like he needs the Queen. Which is to say, not at all. But it would sound cool to hear everyone calling him "Sir" anyway.
Malcolm McDowell: This sci-fi lifer should be knighted for A Clockwork Orange, even though that Stanley Kubrick classic was all about how rotten jolly England was at its core. But McDowell reportedly refused knighthood in 1995.
John Lennon: The Beatles visionary sent back his MBE honor in 1969, and it was finally unearthed this year. But maybe the monarchy should ask Lennon's estate to reclaim it. And then name the throne after him.
Alan Turing: A same-sex witch-hunt led this computer pioneer and code-breaker to an untimely death. Scientists have since asked for a national apology, and a knighthood. Just do it.
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