This entire story amounts to campaign lobbying for Steve Jobs to be awarded a Knighthood.
FORBES: Steve Jobs Knighthood Nixed By Political Pettyfoggery
The only record of a knighthood being given up was Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore in 1919.
Labour have criticised the decision to give a knighthood to a Conservative party donor, Paul Ruddock.
The honours also see Peter Birkett, chief executive of Barnfield College in Luton receiving a knighthood.
Met Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe, who was born in Sheffield, has received a knighthood.
Reading Football Club chairman John Madejski, meanwhile, receives a knighthood for his charity work.
The decisions first to give him a knighthood and then to remove it were, primarily, political decisions.
He declined a knighthood, but was happy to be made a Companion of Honour, a rarer distinction.
Lifelong fan Ann Hughes started a letter-writing campaign to secure a knighthood for Tom around four years ago.
So embarrassed was Branson by complaints of late and shabby trains that he turned down a knighthood last year.
He was also well known for his charitable work, having raised millions of pounds, and was awarded a knighthood.
He refused a knighthood almost to the end, pointing out that he had written only a slow handful of books.
Prof Keith Burnett, vice-chancellor of the University of Sheffield, has received a knighthood for services to science and higher education.
If he is refused a knighthood by Britain, perhaps he might qualify instead for the Order of the Rising Sun.
Garry Hawkes, the former chairman of the educational foundation Edge, will receive a knighthood for services to business and to vocational training.
Scottish opera director David McVicar also receives a knighthood, for services to opera, while English National Opera's Edward Gardner becomes an OBE.
As Dennis Stevenson, he was given a knighthood in 1997, which could be put through the honours committee with powers to remove it.
He accepted a knighthood from Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in 1978 and frequently golfed with Denis Thatcher, husband of prime minister Margaret Thatcher.
Elsewhere on the list, a knighthood has been conferred upon Antonio Pappano, the music director at the Royal Opera House in central London.
Professor Ian Wilmut is to receive a knighthood for his pioneering work at the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh - including cloning the first mammal.
Jackie Stewart, one of the greatest motor-racing drivers of all time, has been rewarded for his services to the sport with a knighthood from the Queen.
The father of four, they say, has his eyes set too firmly on a knighthood and despite talking tough, he is not radical enough in action.
If Jobs does get a knighthood, it can be seen as the successful outcome of this influential lobbying campaign as much as a decision based on genuine merit.
FORBES: Steve Jobs Knighthood Nixed By Political Pettyfoggery
In reaching this decision, it was recognised that widespread concern about Fred Goodwin's decisions meant that the retention of a knighthood for 'services to banking' could not be sustained.
He was awarded a CBE in 1966, later turned down a knighthood and became a Companion of Honour, an exclusive award in the gift of the Sovereign, in 2002.
Peter Bazalgette, 58, of Endemol, who brought Big Brother to the UK and was behind hit shows Ready Steady Cook, and Ground Force, gets a knighthood for services to broadcasting.
Sir Clive was a frontline pilot in the RAF where he participated in air operations over the Falklands, Iraq and the Balkans before becoming air chief marshal and receiving a knighthood in 2006.
Cyclist Bradley Wiggins, who is based in Ecclestone, Chorley, has been conferred a knighthood in the Queen's New Year Honours list after winning the Tour de France and then gold at the 2012 London Olympics.
Although injuries have taken their toll on Ainslie -- whose success at London 2012 earned him a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth -- he says that he has never lost his love for being on the water.
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