Why wasn't Fred Perry knighted?

ATXtennisaddict

Hall of Fame
Andy Murray won Wimbledon and there's talk of him getting a knighthood for it. Why didn't Fred Perry get one for being such an accomplished tennis and table-tennis champion? Just wondering.
 

Moose Malloy

G.O.A.T.
this didn't go over too well in the UK

After becoming disillusioned with the class-conscious nature of the Lawn Tennis Club of Great Britain, the working-class Perry moved to the United States before becoming a naturalised US citizen in 1938. In 1942, he was drafted into the US Air Force during the Second World War.

Despite his unprecedented contribution to British tennis, Perry was not accorded full recognition by tennis authorities until his twilight years.
 

Overdrive

Legend
Andy Murray won Wimbledon and there's talk of him getting a knighthood for it. Why didn't Fred Perry get one for being such an accomplished tennis and table-tennis champion? Just wondering.

With the information stated above, I guess the British royalty didn't like that Perry moved to the United States. I wonder if they even considered him as British anymore...
 

Dan Lobb

G.O.A.T.
With the information stated above, I guess the British royalty didn't like that Perry moved to the United States. I wonder if they even considered him as British anymore...

Alfred Hitchcock was knighted after becoming a U.S. citizen, so it was more than that.
Furthermore, Perry moved BACK to Britain after the war for good.
 

Phoenix1983

G.O.A.T.
Aside from the fact that the British establishment didn't warm to Perry, it was very uncommon to award knighthoods and damehoods to sportspeople in those days.

If I'm not mistaken, the first British sportsperson to be knighted was the football (soccer) player Stanley Matthews in the mid-1960s. It's only been in recent years though, that there has been a trend to knight every British sportsperson who achieves global success, often before their careers are over. I disagree with anyone being knighted while they are still competing, by the way - it seems a bit strange to me.
 

6-1 6-3 6-0

Banned
Aside from the fact that the British establishment didn't warm to Perry, it was very uncommon to award knighthoods and damehoods to sportspeople in those days.

If I'm not mistaken, the first British sportsperson to be knighted was the football (soccer) player Stanley Matthews in the mid-1960s. It's only been in recent years though, that there has been a trend to knight every British sportsperson who achieves global success, often before their careers are over. I disagree with anyone being knighted while they are still competing, by the way - it seems a bit strange to me.

Actually, there were many British sportspeople to be knighted (and damed) before that. Gordon Richards for example, the English jockey, was knighted in 1953 (and he's also the only jockey with a knighthood in world history)-

url
 

MAXXply

Hall of Fame
I guess the fact his father was a Labour member of parliament didn't exactly endear him to the upper classes and AELTC.

I'd love to know how he started up his clothing company.
 

Phoenix1983

G.O.A.T.
Actually, there were many British sportspeople to be knighted (and damed) before that. Gordon Richards for example, the English jockey, was knighted in 1953 (and he's also the only jockey with a knighthood in world history)-

url

OK, but it was still nowhere near as common as it is these days. I think my point stands that these knighthoods and damehoods are handed out far too swiftly these days.
 

Jonerfun

New User
I'm surprised i'm not a knight, they hand 'em out like sweets these days.
Rob Brydon!...... Rob Brydon!? Rob Brydon for heavens sake. Might be an honour or whatever rather than a knighthood, but still,...Rob Brydon!
 

Dan Lobb

G.O.A.T.
I guess the fact his father was a Labour member of parliament didn't exactly endear him to the upper classes and AELTC.

I'd love to know how he started up his clothing company.

His clothing company and other work he did with tennis were all done in Britain, where Perry returned to live after WWII, and re-established his British ties.

Perry came under criticism for leaving Britain and taking U.S. citizenship in 1939. (Does 1939 ring a bell? Yes, Hitler started a war.)
Hitchcock, Charles Laughton, and many British actors also were criticized in the British press for leaving Britain just when things were getting tough.
David Niven, Laurence Olivier, Leslie Howard, Richard Greene, and others felt the sting of this criticism and returned to Britain and served bravely under fire.

Even Canadian actors left Hollywood.
Raymond Massey left a promising career in films and re-enlisted in the Canadian army in 1940, and Walter Pidgeon worked with the Canadian government and conducted a war-bond tour of Canada which raised over $5 million.
Massey and Pidgeon had served together in the same unit in the Canadian army during WWI.
Both of these men became U.S. citizens in late 1944, as California inheritance laws provided strong motivation.
 
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Mustard

Bionic Poster
Fred Perry was a working class lad from Stockport, and the son of a Labour MP. He was also fiery and controversial at times. No wonder he was disliked by the well-to-do classes at Wimbledon. Perry was also ostracised by the British tennis establishment when he decided to turn professional and challenge Ellsworth Vines. Playing tennis for a living instead of as a past-time deserved derision, apparently.

I can't stand Royal honours, anyway.
 
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jaggy

Talk Tennis Guru
By all accounts he was a great man and thats more important than some phony honor.
 
ye, I wouldn't be surprised if it was offered, actually, and he turned it down (this does happen, not much, but it does)

not keen on the inference he left England to avoid fighting, though, he was a naturalised US citizen by 1938 and ended up in the US air force...
 
I'm surprised i'm not a knight, they hand 'em out like sweets these days.
Rob Brydon!...... Rob Brydon!? Rob Brydon for heavens sake. Might be an honour or whatever rather than a knighthood, but still,...Rob Brydon!

ok, I'll bite, instead of googling it, who the f*ck is Rob Brydon?
 

Bartelby

Bionic Poster
Brydon is pretty woeful on a rather poor tv show called 'Would I lie to you?', but he may have done better things.

He only has an MBE and Murray is already one better with an OBE and a knighthood is significantly higher.
 

Dan Lobb

G.O.A.T.
ye, I wouldn't be surprised if it was offered, actually, and he turned it down (this does happen, not much, but it does)

not keen on the inference he left England to avoid fighting, though, he was a naturalised US citizen by 1938 and ended up in the US air force...

It was the timing, just as the situation was getting hot in Europe and Britain needed all the help possible to combat Hitler, Perry chose the wrong time to change colours.
 

Frank Silbermann

Professional
Most people in England who are knighted these days don't deserve it. Sure, they may have done great things, but what about the basics -- handling the broadsword, jousting on horseback, etc.
 

kiki

Banned
Fred Perry was a working class lad from Stockport, and the son of a Labour MP. He was also fiery and controversial at times. No wonder he was disliked by the well-to-do classes at Wimbledon. Perry was also ostracised by the British tennis establishment when he decided to turn professional and challenge Ellsworth Vines. Playing tennis for a living instead of as a past-time deserved derision, apparently.

I can't stand Royal honours, anyway.

I think the Labour fact must not be neglected
 

Dan Lobb

G.O.A.T.
I think the Labour fact must not be neglected

I wouldn't think so.

Perry stated in 1939 that one reason he had taken U.S. citizenship and rejected his British citizenship was the "class system" in Britain, then under Conservative government.

In 1945, with a Labour government newly elected, Perry returned to Britain and spent the rest of his life there.

However, there were plenty of opportunities for successive Labour governments to nominate him for a knighthood.
It was more than politics.

Laurence Olivier came from a strong Labour family, his uncle Sydney Olivier was a minister in the Labour government.
Yet Olivier was knighted in 1947.

Unlike Olivier, who served in a virtual suicide torpedo-bombing squad, Perry did not serve Britain in the crucial period 1939 to 1941, when they stood alone against Hitler.
 

kiki

Banned
I wouldn't think so.

Perry stated in 1939 that one reason he had taken U.S. citizenship and rejected his British citizenship was the "class system" in Britain, then under Conservative government.

In 1945, with a Labour government newly elected, Perry returned to Britain and spent the rest of his life there.

However, there were plenty of opportunities for successive Labour governments to nominate him for a knighthood.
It was more than politics.

Laurence Olivier came from a strong Labour family, his uncle Sydney Olivier was a minister in the Labour government.
Yet Olivier was knighted in 1947.

Unlike Olivier, who served in a virtual suicide torpedo-bombing squad, Perry did not serve Britain in the crucial period 1939 to 1941, when they stood alone against Hitler.

Wether you are a sound conservative I don´t know.But Perry, in my humble opinion, has always been a Labour, that is quite on the left guy at heart, no matter how many millions has he made getting his % of skirts and shorts sold uner his name-brand.
 

Dan Lobb

G.O.A.T.
Wether you are a sound conservative I don´t know.But Perry, in my humble opinion, has always been a Labour, that is quite on the left guy at heart, no matter how many millions has he made getting his % of skirts and shorts sold uner his name-brand.

There were Labour governments which could have nominated him for knighthoods, so it was not just politics.
The war years had something to do with it.
 
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