31 December 2009

Patrick Stewart: From Captain and Professor to Sir



Patrick Stewart, the noblest of all to ever command the USS Enterprise, and the mentor of wayward teenagers hated and feared by a world they're sworn to protect, received a new title earlier today that, in all good ways, surpasses his previous prefixes, Captain and Professor


As of this morning, Stewart is officially "Sir Patrick." At 68, Stewart, a native of Yorkshire, England, was knighted by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in a ceremony today at London's Buckingham Palace.  A Knighthood is the highest honor Britain bestows on its citizens, although non-citizens are also eligible to receive this award. And while 'Knighthood' sounds exclusively male, both men and women can receive the honor. Following their award, the men are often referred to as 'Knights', and the women as 'Dames.' 


Prior to today's ceremony, our two favorite honorees have been Stewart's former X-Men co-star, Sir Ian McKellan, and James Bond's boss, M, Dame Judi Dench.  Actor Christopher Lee, who, among his many other parts, portrayed both the dark Jedi Count Dooku in Star Wars and  The Lord of The Rings' Saruman the White, has also been knighted by the good Queen.  Hmmm. You know, now that Patrick Stewart has joined their proud ranks, he not only tops our short list, he confirms one of our oldest suspicions. Her Majesty's Secret Service isn't the cadre of licensed super-spies they'd like us to believe; it's Netflix. Daniel Radcliffe, your time will come.                                                      Patrick Stewart's photograph courtesy of Seth Kushner

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