FRENCH HONOUR LOST

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20108, 29 March 1928, Page 8

FRENCH HONOUR LOST

FOREIGN OFFICE BAN ENGLISHMAN REFUSED MEDAL. How he nearly received, the Legion of Honour was related by Mr Seymour Hicks recently, just before he lefle London for a tour of Canada.

“A few weeks ago," said Mr Hicks, “I received a message from M. Yves .Mirande, the French dramatist, to say that my name had been put before the French Government for the Legion d’Honneur.

“After three weeks M. Mirando sent me a copy of a letter from the French Government department con corned, stating that, although the award of the Legion of Honour .ba>? been approved by the French Government, they were unable to bestow it. owing to the refusal of the British Foreign Office to approve it. “1 then approached the Lord Chamberlain’s Department, and was referred to an official at the Foreign Office. He informed me that permission to accept the decoration coula only be granted if the recipient had done something of national importance for France.

“1 pointed out that I had adapted and produced many French plays, but a week later I received a letter saying that the higher authorities har4 been consulted, but could not see their way to alter their decision.

“I would rather have the Legion of Honour than anything else. 1 was the first person to go to Lord Kitchenerand to get permission, in 1914, to take a concert party into the war zone. 1 kept the Princes Theatre open on Sunday nights for nineteen months during the war for overseas soldiers on leave, and bore the expense mvself, nearly £2000."