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| Hannalee |
A couple of pieces from The Times for starters:
December 13, 2003
Jagger gets his title from Mother's Little Helper
FROM ALAN HAMILTON AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE
COME on, Mick; when you and I were 20 together I loved you for being a bad boy. Now here you are at Buckingham Palace, getting shedloads of satisfaction; where did it all go wrong?
Sir Michael Jagger, one-time anti-Establishment icon and newly knighted ancient rocker, paused for a mere semi-breve. �I don�t think the Establishment we knew exists any more.�
Tosh, Mick. You�ve just been at Big E HQ, down on the knee getting the sword from Charlie � that�s Wales, not Watts � and, far from suffering your nineteenth nervous breakdown, you lapped up every minute of it. You said so yourself � more exhilarated than nervous, you said. They are not Their Satantic Majesties after all.
�It was rather wonderfully formal,� Sir Michael said in the Palace courtyard after his investiture. �There was such a cross-section there, from historians to beekeepers. And there were some wonderful outfits.�
Yours among them, Mick. We liked the dark two-piece suit with the leather collar and the dark grey silk tie. Most of all, we liked the formal black adidas trainers with the gold brand-name down the heel. Good of you to hang up the black leather coat and the long crimson scarf in the cloakroom, though.
Frankly, Mick, it�s not the kit; it�s the attitude. You loved it, from the minute that Vice-Admiral Tom Blackburn, the Master of the Household, announced �Sir Michael Jagger�, and you stepped into the Palace ballroom to give HRH quite a formal bow.
Had you picked another day, you�d have got his Mum, but just at that moment she was having her knee done. Shouldn�t it be you that�s got the torn cartilage, after all that leaping about I saw you doing at the Marseilles footie stadium in July?
Wouldn�t it have been a gas if the orchestra sawing away up on the balcony had launched into Jumpin� Jack Flash? They were playing instead, I think, Brahms�s Valse, Op.39, which I don�t seem to have on any of your albums.
We saw you looking back into the body of the kirk to catch the eye of your Dad Joe, now 92, a terrific living testament to the benefits of life as a Dartford gym teacher. If he ever imagined in his wildest dreams that he would see his boy knighted, he could never have guessed the route by which you got there, especially after you chucked in your degree course at the LSE.
Your daughters Elizabeth, 19, (remember Jerry Hall?) and Karis, 32 (remember Marsha Hunt?) were proud enough of you to give you encouraging little waves from the auditorium.
Any reason why, from a vast family choice, you picked them to be your guests? �I chose my party on the grounds of seniority and availability,� Sir Michael said.
And what did HRH say to you that made you laugh out loud? �It was a private conversation, but he did thank me for supporting the Prince�s Trust. I�ve met him quite a few times and we�ve had some nice chats.�
So now you�ve got it, what do you think of it, and what do you expect people to call you? �People will probably call me Sir Mick, but Sir Michael has a nice ring to it. Anyway, it�s nice to have an honour given to you, as long as you wear it lightly and don�t get carried away with your own self-importance.�
Fair enough, Mick, but your so-called mate Keith Richards said the other day that no way was he going to step on stage with a bloke wearing a f***ing coronet and sporting the old ermine.
�He likes to make a bit of a fuss; he would probably like the same honour himself. Keith�s like a bawling child who hasn�t got an ice cream.�
So we can take it that he won�t be joining you at your celebration lunch in the Temple then? �Nah.�
Anyway, nice bit of jewellery, Mick, the old oval gold Knight Bachelor�s badge hanging round the neck on the crimson ribbon; could become the bling-bling must-have fashion accessory among you A-list celebs, now that you, Paul, Cliff and Elt have all got one.
By the way, did you see Gerry Marsden of the Pacemakers and Gary Brooker from Procul Harum in there too? They were getting MBEs for their charity work, though, not for singing You�ll Never Walk Alone or A Whiter Shade of Pale.
So rock on, Sir Mick; it�s great to be 60, isn�t it? I don�t know about yours, but the portrait in my attic isn�t half showing its age.
December 13, 2003
Sir Mick? Come on, he deserves at least a dukedom
JAMES DELINGPOLE
ARISE SIR JAMES. That�s how most of my stories used to end when I was a child, usually after I�d sunk the Spanish Armada or won Waterloo, because that�s how most of us thought of knighthoods back in the un-classless Seventies: as a rarefied, socially-aggrandising reward you won for doing something dashing or noble or glamorous, preferably involving the trouncing of our nation�s enemies.
But knighthoods don�t seem to work that way any more. In Tony Blair�s cosy, anti-elitist new Britain, the trend is to dish out gongs for boring but worthy things such as surviving as a head teacher in some inner-city sink (�Sirs for sirs� as the dread phrase has it), collecting lots of milk bottle tops for disabled pandas, being the nation�s best-loved lollipop lady, that sort of caper.
These days, you see, most honours seem to be awarded on a sort of Esther Rantzen, all-shall-have-prizes principle, where the public do most of the nominating.
Now if this public included people such as you and me it wouldn�t be a problem, would it? We�d make sure that knighthoods went to only deserving types like, say, the entire England rugby team, definitely no footballers, except possibly Graham Le Saux because he�s posh, a few Gulf war heroes, the odd ambassador and maybe the occasional actor, but only really, really old ones (way older than Ian McKellen or Helen Mirren, for example) who stick mainly to the stage.
BUT THE PEOPLE willing to go through all the form-filling nominations hassle are ones with time on their hands (ie, the unemployed or in the public sector), lovers of meddling and bureaucracy; and zealots with burning social consciences. In other words, the entire readership of the Society pages of The Guardian.
This cannot be right. The people I want to see with knighthoods belong more in Tatler�s society pages: people who think Britain�s basically an OK place; people who don�t write snotty letters to newspapers boasting about the myriad PC reasons why they intend to turn down their award; people you wouldn�t be unduly bothered by if they ended up being given a smarter table than you in a restaurant. People like Mick Jagger.
Sir Mick�s knighthood has been criticised from many quarters. Some � the descendants of those who handed back their honours when the Beatles got their MBEs, presumably � seem to imagine that it might somehow tarnish the award�s dignity.
Others � for example Mick�s ex, Marianne Faithfull, who has called him a �tremendous snob� � feel that when you�ve built your whole career on outraging society, it�s pretty rich suddenly to suck up to it. But the best response I�ve heard was from Keith Richards. Richards reckons he should have held out for a peerage, because Lord Jagger has a nicer ring.
KEEF IS QUITE right, of course. A knighthood is the barest minimum that Jagger deserves. He deserves it for Paint It Black, Ruby Tuesday and Sympathy For The Devil (pity he didn�t peg it glamorously after Exile On Main Street, but we can�t have everything).
Jagger deserves his knighthood for his pouty lips, pretty haircuts and groovy threads; he deserves it for the drugs-bust incident which inspired the celebrated �Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel� Times leader; he deserves it as Britain�s greatest shagging ambassador since Lord Byron; but above all he deserves it for setting the right example.
Behind that louche manner and ridiculous accent, Mick Jagger is a model establishment figure. He is mates with royalty (apparently it was at the insistence of the late Princess Margaret that he got his K) and nobs; he educates his children privately and brings them up strictly; he has country estates; he likes cricket; he knows how to dress, converse and charm; he�s a proper gentleman.
No, it�s not Mick�s knighthood I�m worried about. It�s those other riff-raff sirs � they�re the problem.
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| Hannalee |
The Telegraph:
Palace satisfaction for Sir Mick despite Keef's moaning
By Hugh Davies, Entertainment Correspondent
(Filed: 13/12/2003)
It was a moment of pure satisfaction. Standing in the courtyard of Buckingham Palace in red socks and �148 suede and leather trainers, Sir Mick Jagger let fly with a bit of attitude yesterday.
The Rolling Stone had just knelt on his right knee to be dubbed by the Prince of Wales to Valse, Opus 39 by Brahms.
Asked if bandmate Keith Richards was correct to conclude that he was a twit to accept "a paltry honour", his lips widened to a smile.
"He's just jealous," he said. "I think he would probably like to get the same honour himself. It's nothing new. Keith likes to make a fuss. He's like a bawling child who hasn't got an ice-cream."
Standing nearby, Liverpool's Gerry Marsden, slightly better outfitted in morning suit and top hat (Sir Mick wore a black suit with leather lapels, black silk tie, leather coat and silk scarf), was even pithier.
"Richards was talking a load of old cobblers," the singer of Ferry Across the Mersey, who was receiving an MBE, said. "Mick got it. Mick accepted it. Mick deserved it."
He added: "I'm over the moon about mine. As the Prince said to me, and to Gary [Brooker, of Procul Harum, another MBE], 'It's nice to see you three old singers being recognised.' I said 'That's lovely. But, please . . . not so much of the old.' "
Jagger, on arrival, chatted with the former Newsnight presenter John Tusa, who was also to be knighted. Friends said that even though Sir John was more a Beatles fan in his youth, they talked at length about music.
The singer seemed nervous. An onlooker overheard a footman say to him: "Don't worry. It's nearly over." The Prince lightly touched him on each shoulder with the sword. Sir Mick gave a respectful nod back.
The rock knight was with his father Joe, 92, and daughters Karis, 32, and Elizabeth, 19. He was joined at a party at The Temple, by his friend, the 6ft 4in American model L'Wren Scott, 36.
Richards, who Jagger has known since primary school, was not invited. The guitarist had thought it "ludicrous" for Jagger to "take one of those gongs from the Establishment when they did their very best to throw us in jail".
In 1967 the police were tipped off that Richards was hosting a drug party at his home in Redlands, West Sussex. Richards was jailed for 12 months. Jagger was given three months.
The sentences were portrayed as an establishment attempt to crucify Britain's most insolent rock band. The Times condemned the penalties in a leader that quoted William Blake's Who Breaks a Butterfly on a Wheel. Eventually, Lord Parker, the lord chief justice, quashed the jail sentences, saying no proper evidence of hashish smoking had been found in the raid.
Sir Mick, now 60, was recommended for the honour by Tony Blair.
and The Independent:
Ageing rocker and father roll up at the Palace
By Terry Kirby, Chief Reporter
13 December 2003
For a man who once wore a white skirt onstage over the road at Hyde Park, Mick Jagger was dressed relatively soberly yesterday for his latest gig, receiving his knighthood at Buckingham Palace for services to popular music.
Leaving the red cloaks and leather boots to the chaps on horses outside, Sir Mick had donned a silk tie and a black suit. But, just to show he is still a little bit of a rebel, the suit had a black leather collar and he wore black suede and leather trainers.
Maybe Keith Richards, who had accused Sir Mick of selling out, would have appreciated the nod to their rock 'n' roll roots. Sir Mick, 60, was relaxed about the gibe. "I think he would probably like to get the same honour himself.'' Keith, he said with a grin, was like "a bawling child who hasn't got an ice cream". He added: "It's very nice to have honours given to you as long as you don't take it all too seriously. You should wear them lightly and not get carried away with your own self-importance."
Minutes earlier, as the Scots Guards band played tunes not normally in the Stones' repertoire - Handel's Water Music and Schubert's D Minor Quartet - Sir Mick was formally invested as Knight Bachelor by the Prince of Wales. His father Joe, aged 92, and daughters Karis, 32, and Elizabeth, 19, were there too. Asked if it was contrary to his anti-establishment past to accept the K, he said: "I don't think the Establishment as we knew it exists any more."
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| Hannalee |
This is quite nice, for The Guardian:
At last, a gig at the palace for Sir Michael
Rolling Stone Mick Jagger, former scourge of the establishment, puts on a suit and tie to receive a knighthood
Richard Williams
Saturday December 13, 2003
The Guardian
As gigs go, it was a long way from the Marquee, the Crawdaddy or the Station Hotel, Richmond, where Mick Jagger got his start with the embryonic Rolling Stones just over 40 years ago. Yesterday, after confirming his pre-eminence among the aristocracy of rock and roll by keeping everyone waiting for 18 months, Jagger finally turned up at Buckingham Palace to receive his knighthood.
He was not sporting the knight bachelor's oval gold medal with red and gold ribbon when he emerged into the palace quadrangle after feeling the tap of the royal sword on his narrow shoulders, but this is a man who once performed in nearby Hyde Park wearing a girl's ruffled nightie, and his flamboyant tendency had been stirred by the costumes and the ceremony.
"It was rather wonderfully formal, with some wonderful outfits," he told reporters. For this latest solo performance he himself had laid aside the silks and satins of his stage outfits and chosen a dark grey suit, white shirt and silver tie, topped with a sharply cut black leather coat and a long red scarf.
"It's very nice to have honours given to you as long as you don't take it all too seriously," he added, aware that his decision to accept an establishment gong has brought accusations of betraying the spirit of the music that made him famous. "You should wear them lightly and not get carried away with your own self-importance. And I don't think the establishment exists any more."
Since the award was announced early last year, he had missed no fewer than 20 opportunities to collect it - the fault of his touring schedule, according to his spokesman. When he finally made it up the Mall, the title was conferred not by the Queen, who was in hospital undergoing surgery to her knee, but by the Prince of Wales, wearing the uniform of an admiral of the fleet. This is perhaps a bit like getting your ticket for a Rolling Stones concert and turning up at the stadium to be told that, owing to an indisposition, Mick Jagger has been replaced by Will Young.
"I know the prince reasonably well," Jagger said. "I've met him quite a few times. He thanked me for supporting his charity and we had a little chat."
Only a handful of fans were shivering in the rain outside the palace gates.The usual squads of foreign tourists dispersed when told that the weather had forced a cancellation of the changing of the guard.
Inside, Handel's Water Music and Schubert's D minor quartet were played from a minstrels' gallery by the orchestra of the Scots Guards as Jagger waited to become Sir Mick. "I suppose that's what people will call me," he said, "although Sir Michael has a nice ring." He was accompanied by his 92-year-old father, Joe Jagger, a former PE teacher, and by two of his daughters, Karis, 32, and Elizabeth, 19, whose mothers are the singer Marsha Hunt and the former model Jerry Hall. Each recipient of an honour is allowed to take three guests to the palace, which meant that Jagger had to leave several children behind, among them Georgia, 11, and Gabriel, six. "The younger ones would have loved the soldiers," he said.
This was not his first experience of royal hospitality. In 1967, after the notorious police raid on Keith Richards' West Sussex mansion, Jagger spent the first night of a three-month sentence in Her Majesty's Prison, Brixton, convicted of possessing illegal drugs. Out on bail the next day, pending an appeal, he was eventually granted a conditional discharge after the Times printed a leader headlined "Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel?"
His knighthood, recommended by Tony Blair with the citation "for services to popular music", underlines the suspicions of those who claim to detect a streak of snobbery beneath the scandalous behaviour. The most scathing of his critics has been Keith Richards, his fellow Stone and a friend since childhood. "I don't want to step on stage with anyone wearing a fucking coronet and sporting the old ermine," Richards said last week.
"It's nothing new," Jagger responded yesterday with an air of fond tolerance. "Keith likes to makes a fuss. It's a bit like a bawling child who hasn't got an ice cream. When one gets one, they all want one."
Among others honoured yesterday were two other voices from the Swinging Britain of the 1960s. Gerry Marsden, of Gerry and the Pacemakers, and Gary Brooker, of Procol Harum, received OBEs for services to charity. The last time Marsden shared a bill with Jagger was at the NME poll-winners' concert at the Empire Pool, Wembley, in 1964.
Old rockers on a roll
Sir Paul McCartney knighted by the Queen on March 11 1997. "Receiving it is one of the best days of my life. My mum and dad would have been proud," he said. George Harrison and Ringo Star responded by calling their former fellow Beatle "your holiness".
Sir Elton John knighted on December 30 1997 after he sang Candle in the Wind at Princess Diana's funeral. "My joy at receiving this great new honour is immeasurable," he said, to which Boy George replied: "Elton's already a queen, so isn't this a bit of a comedown?"
Sir Cliff Richard knighted in 1995 and awarded an OBE in 1980. The first of the rock stars of the 50s and 60s to receive a knighthood. Afterwards he said: "I don't suppose people will mind if I swank a bit."
Bob Geldof, who founded the Boomtown Rats in 1975, was awarded an honorary KBE on June 1 1986 for efforts towards famine relief in Africa.
Gerry Marsden , of Gerry and the Pacemakers, awarded an MBE yesterday for charity work, alongside Procol Harum's Gary Brooker. "The prince said it was nice to see three old singers back," Marsden said after the ceremony with Jagger. "I said: 'Not so much of the 'old' sir' - then he hit me."
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| Lazy Bones |
Mick Jagger now Sir Mick Jagger
By SUE LEEMAN
Associated Press
LONDON -- An icon of rock rebelliousness officially joined the British establishment Friday -- and hardly anyone objected.
Rolling Stone Keith Richards was that rare dissenter as bandmate Mick Jagger, the group's raffish, womanizing frontman once convicted on a drug charge, accepted a knighthood from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace.
The lack of fuss marked a shift in British attitudes since 1965, when some outraged dignitaries returned their gold medals in protest after the Beatles were made members of the Order of the British Empire, or MBE. Times change. Former Beatle Paul McCartney, Beatles' producer George Martin, Elton John and Cliff Richard preceded Jagger as rock knights.
Two other senior rockers -- Gerry Marsden of Gerry and the Pacemakers, and Gary Brooker of Procol Harum -- were at the palace Thursday to collect MBEs for their charity work.
The announcement last year of Jagger's honour elicited a couple of angry letters to the Daily Telegraph. A Canadian woman whose husband, mother and grandfather all received honours wrote: "By giving a knighthood to a rogue like Mick Jagger, the prime minister has denigrated all the worthy recipients of honours from Her Majesty the Queen."
Jagger, 60 years old and still touring, sported a designer suit with leather lapels and black suede and leather sneakers for the occasion. He denied he had betrayed his unconventional past, which epitomized the "sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll" lifestyle.
"I don't think the establishment as we knew it exists any more," he told reporters. Honours are very nice, "as long as you don't take it all too seriously."
Jagger laughed off the criticism from Richards, who denounced the knighthood as a disgrace.
"I think he would probably like to get the same honour himself," Jagger said.
"It's like being given an ice cream -- one gets one and they all want one. It's nothing new. Keith likes to make a fuss."
Jagger came to the ceremony with his 92-year-old father, Joe, who decades ago chided his son's passion for "jungle music," and daughters Karis, 32, and Elizabeth, 19.
The Queen was in hospital Friday for knee surgery. Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, has been sharing the job of distributing knighthoods and had always been scheduled to preside at Friday's ceremonies.
Born Michael Philip Jagger in Dartford, a London suburb, Jagger studied at the prestigious London School of Economics, where he started playing with Richards and Brian Jones.
They made their first public appearance at a jazz club in 1962, taking the name Rolling Stones from Muddy Waters' The Rolling Stone Blues. Bass player Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts joined later.
The Stones' first recording, Come On, barely made it into the British top-50, but by 1964 they were beating the Beatles in some popularity polls.
In 1965, the Stones had one of their greatest hits with (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction; other numbers in their raunchy repertoire include Gimme Shelter, Brown Sugar, Honky Tonk Women and Start Me Up.
Jagger's frenzied dancing, pouting and posturing made him the incarnation of Jumping Jack Flash, another of the band's hits, and his thick lips became the band's logo.
In 1967, Jagger, Richards and Jones were sentenced to prison for drug offences -- in Jagger's case, three months for possessing four stimulant pills that he had purchased legally in Italy.
Jagger's daughter Karis was from a relationship with singer Marsha Hunt. In 1971, he married Bianca Perez Morena de Macias, and they had a daughter, Jade; they divorced in 1980. His marriage to former model Jerry Hall -- which produced four children -- was annulled in 1999 after model Luciana Morad said she was pregnant with Jagger's youngest child, Lucas. |
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| Hannalee |
One more from The Times:
Sir Mick enters the world of the Establishment
BY OLAF BJORTOMT
Celebration of knighthood for the wrinkly rocker was mainly a family affair
NEWLY knighted Sir Michael Jagger took a further step into the world of the Establishment yesterday when he held his celebration lunch party in the Temple, a venue more used to the mainstream carousings of lawyers.
Thirty guests joined the wrinkly rocker at Two Temple Place, a club founded by the first Viscount Astor in the 19th century. It can hold 370 guests, costs upwards of �5,000 to hire, and claims to �combine the grandeur of a state occasion with the intimacy of a party in a private house�.
By far the most notable absentee was Keith Richards, Sir Mick�s fellow Rolling Stone, who has been publicly rude about his lead singer�s knighthood, dismissing it as �a paltry honour�. Charlie Watts, the band�s drummer, who enjoys a private life far from the madding Forty Licks tour, was also missing.
Ronnie Wood, the Stones� guitarist, was the only other band member present and declared Sir Mick�s honour �very fitting�. But the occasion was mainly a family affair, with pride of place going to Sir Mick�s proud and ever-beaming father Joe, now aged 92.
Many of Sir Mick�s children, including son James and daughters Elizabeth and Karis, were present, along with his brother Christopher. Sir Tom Stoppard was another guest, having adapted Robert Harris�s novel Enigma for Jagged, Sir Mick�s film company.
There was no sign of Jerry Hall, Sir Mick�s ex-wife. After three hours, he left with the rest of the guests in the company of girlfriend L�Wren Scott. His parting words as they climbed into a blue Mercedes were �lovely, lovely�. He meant the knighthood.
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| SHINE A LIGHT |
 thanks kindly for all of these posts. my morning paper had a huge section also, but i'm certain it's all been covered here. thanks, folks!! |
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| parmeda |
Indeed, these are all great articles! Thanks for posting them 
The Chicago SunTimes used the same photo, as today's header, for their front page. Needless to say, reading the morning paper was everything I needed to start my day off right, lol
Hannalee...check your PM
[Edited by parmeda]
[Edited by parmeda] |
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| Lambchop |
"Sir Mick? Come on, he deserves at least a dukedom
JAMES DELINGPOLE"
This is the one article that gets it.
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| Gazza |
I think today must have set the record for the most Stones related coverage ever in the daily papers in the UK, and thats saying something over the last 40 years. I'd guess Brian's death and funeral would have got more coverage but then again there were less titles around in 1969 than there are now,I would imagine.
I collect all the cuttings in the press here for a friend in France who I trade with. Today there was something in EVERY national paper, usually at least one page.
I ended up going to about two or three newsagents in the end to get them all. It would have looked too weird walking into one shop and buying a copy of about fifteen different papers. |
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| soraya |
family affair? out of 30 guests only 5 people were jagger's family. |
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| Hannalee |
quote:
soraya wrote:
family affair? out of 30 guests only 5 people were jagger's family.
If you're only counting people mentioned by name, there were only nine guests anyway!
"many of his children including...." has to mean that there were more than those three present. I'm sure the kids would have gone to the party, having missed out on the palace. And what about nephews/nieces/grandchildren?
I suppose it's unlikely that there were more than a dozen or so proper family there, but the impression I get is that the party was for people Mick's really close to, rather than A-list celebrities. |
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| glencar |
The Stones concerts earned better coverage in Ireland & England than over here. |
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