The ‘genteel vagrant’ Margaret Fairchild died in her van on the driveway at 23 Gloucester Crescent in Camden in 1989 aged 78. After a funeral service in the Catholic church of Our Lady of Hal in Camden Town she was buried in an unmarked grave in St Pancras and Islington Cemetery.

The actress will soon have a hip replacement and her glaucoma has led to blindness in one eye. “I thought, Jesus, it’s a wonder you’re alive,“ Smith declared. She added: “You cannot be vain when playing Miss Shepherd.”

86 years (May 9, 1934)

Alan Bennett

The History Boys

Bennett has turned down at least two honours, including CBE in 1998 and a knighthood in 1996. He did not do so out of any republican sympathies, but rather because “it would be like wearing a suit every day of your life”.

The playwright and author Alan Bennett has revealed for the first time the reason for his steadfast refusal to accept an honour from the Queen. He famously turned down the offer of a CBE in 1988 and then rejected a knighthood in 1996.

Stephen Hawking CH CBE, physicist, reportedly turned down a knighthood because he “does not like titles.” He later accepted appointment to the Order of the Companions of Honour, because he was (wrongly) assured that it was the personal gift of the Queen, in 2013.

As the female equivalent for knighthood is damehood, the suo jure female equivalent term is typically Dame. The wife of a knight or baronet tends to be addressed Lady, although a few exceptions and interchanges of these uses exist.

Twiggy is just the latest A-list celebrity to receive a damehood (the female version of knighthood). What are the qualifications for becoming a dame or knight? According to the British government’s website: “This is awarded for having a major contribution in any activity, usually at national level.

A duke (male) can either be a monarch ranked below the emperor, king, and grand duke ruling over a duchy or a member of royalty or nobility, historically of highest rank, below princes of nobility and grand dukes.