Honours Sir: The inquiry by Lance Harris (19 June) into
the authorship of the poem on the OBE has no doubt been answered by many people who remember the scarifying poem by the late A. A. Milne (1882-1956), who is more usually remembered for 'Christopher Robin' and 'Winnie-ther-Pooh' and similar delights of my childhood. But the poem, which appeared in The Sunny Side ( Methuen 1921) must have shocked rigid many people of the day who thought of the Order, if they thought of it at all, as 'quite a good idea of the dear King's' ( King George V dreamed it up personally as a way of rewarding people who materially assisted the war effort without actually fighting). Lloyd George, the supreme opportunist (surpassing even Harold Wilson in his ability to turn other peoples' fortune to his own advantage), saw it as an even better way of rewarding those who contributed lavishly to his own fighting fund. This made the order suspect from the start and indeed, dealt it a blow from which it may have been said never to have recovered. Milne's poem (which I attach) was an early blast, but so was the response of the British public, who took it immediately to mean 'Other Buggers' Efforts' for Officers and 'My own Bloody Efforts' for Members. The later division into a Military and Civilian stream did not do much to amend the disesteem into which it fell and there is surely a good case for disposing of it entirely and substituting (if we must) an Order of British Heroism for support of the regime with special grades for those whom the PM delights to honour—for whatever reason. I would prefer it to have two ribbons, red (of course) for those who receive it for contributing to the funds of the Party, and blue (perhaps) for those who have earned some recognition for having done their jobs well for a number of years. The red ribbon entitles the holder to the title of 'Hero' (`Sir' in English)and the blue to'Sucker' ('Esquire in English).
Antony Walker Box Cottage, Selborne, Alton, Hampshire
Previous page
