Sir Bill Gates

Bill Gates to get UK knighthood

[georgeek]

Several reports - type 'sir bill gates' into Google News.

[Yidaki]

f***

They've always been somehow crazy over there. I wonder when they will give the knighthood to Dieter Bolen ...

[4eyes]

Crazy we may be, but not crazy enough to create a 'Sir Bill Gates'

Only British Nationals can qualify for 'Sir' status - best he can get is "KBE" after his name.

[sidyadav]

wow, this is great for him, I wonder when Page and Brinn will get a knighthood?

Sid

[Sinner_G]

Yidaki: I wonder when they will give the knighthood to Dieter Bolen ...

Well, he was proposed for the Bundesverdienstkreuz (federal cross of merit, highest german distinction).

[troels nybo nielsen]

They already call him "His Billness". "Sir Bill" doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

[lasko]

Can't believe!

Heres for the new OS

"Windows KBE"

Who else should have had this KBE?

[volatilegx]

Good one, Lasko =)

[Fiver]

So it's all cool to stay an American citizen and become a British subject?

I thought there was a kerfluffle about that with Mr. Black a while back, via Canada.

[TheDoctor]

He's not a "British subject", there are quite a few Americans with knighthoods. But it's US law that prevents them being called "Sir" not English or Scottish (which probably wouldn't agree if either of them said anything about it anyway).

[lawman]

If I didn't call my dad "Sir" I might've gotten whacked. :)

lawman

[seth_wilde]

thought this was funny :)

"All I know about the ceremony is what I saw on Monty Python."

--BILL GATES, Microsoft co-founder and the richest man in the world, on what he's expecting when QUEEN ELIZABETH gives him an honorary knighthood.

[news.excite.com...]

[Fiver]

He's not a "British subject", there are quite a few Americans with knighthoods.

oh... ok. when Conrad Black wanted to be knighted there was some conflict. I thought it was based around him having had to give up his Canadian citizenship to do it.

I though that was because of a technicality where he would have to be a British subject to receive the knighthood, and Canada wouldn't let me do that without dropping the Canadian citizenship.

I wish I knew the actual reasons now, because my memory is telling me that he went ahead and dropped his citizenship. Now, wait, I'm pretty sure his title is Lord Black, not Sir Black. Is there a difference?

[Strange]

Sorry.. I really don't know this, but what is a KBE?

[bcolflesh]

"Knight of the British Empire"

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_honours_system

[digitalghost]

I wonder how many "knights" are familiar with the code of chivalry? Or why they are called knights in the first place...

[iamlost]

I doubt that the King of Arms will appeal for my input but IMHO it is obvious that His Nib's arms should be:

• Shield: Azure (from the blue screen of death)
  
• Helmet: Crown (well he thinks he's king)
  
• Crest: Bent arm clenching a bill (type of halberd)
  
• Motto: I thought of three possibilities:
  
  1. "Abort, Retry, Fail"
     
  2. "General Protection Fault"
     
  3. Fatal Error"
     
  
  

[4eyes]

But it's US law that prevents them being called "Sir" not English or Scottish

Nope - not strictly true

US law may prevent him from accepting it were it to be offered, but UK law prevents it being offered in the first place.

The recipient of a KBE is unable to use the appellation "Sir" unless he subsequently becomes a subject of the British monarch.

[Fiver]

I shall remain confused.

which is good, because I like it better that way.

[4eyes]

I read an interview with Bob Geldof where he was talking about the advantages of being a Knight.

It seems the only useful one was that of being able to eat in posh restaurants whilst wearing jeans. Not something covered by the honour, just the power of being a 'honoured' celebrity, I guess.

Most of the other advantages were about being able to graze cattle in the Tower of London and shoot ravens with bows and arrows.

I suppose I might have got some of that wrong, it was a while ago;)

[4eyes]

Or why they are called knights in the first place...

Supposedly from German, where the word 'Knecht' had the meaning of "bondsman"

Sounds logical, I'm open to any other theories though.

[digitalghost]

Well, the case could be made for knight from Old English cniht "servant". There are some that suggest "equite", "with horse". Seems logical. ;) Knecht doesn't seem to carry any sense of nobility, especially in Germanic languages.

In any event, a knight as a servant of the crown seems to have lost any sense of meaning as the crown certainly doesn't require any duties of modern knights.

Are modern knights even asked to read a code of chivalry?

[4eyes]

DG - the roots would be the same. The Old English would have had its origins in the germanic tongues that came over with the Jutes, Angles and Saxons.

I don't know about the current oath, or even if there is one, but I am prepared to bet that chivalry doesn't pop up in it (could be wrong though, but that would just be too wierd)

Sadly the modern idea of 'Chivalry' owes more to Arthurian Legend, Ivanhoe and the SCA than reality. The historic reality was that most Knights were devious murders and land grab artists. 'Men of their times', maybe, but no more chivalrous than any others.

[digitalghost]

Ahh, but cniht is about 400 years earlier than knecht. Not that it matters. Will Durant prefers the "equite" explanation and etymologists will argue about it anyway.

Agreed about the supposed chivalry of knights although a few outstanding examples can be found.