Famous People Who Were Knighted a to z

Syed Ahmed Khan was an Indian educator, politician and Islamic reformer whose work inspired a new generation of Muslims and pioneered the revival of Indian Islam in the late 19th century.

Joseph Banks was a late-18th to early-19th century British explorer and botanist who pushed for the advancement of science.

Sir Frederick Grant Banting was a Canadian scientist and doctor, whose research led to the discovery of insulin to treat diabetic patients.

Isaiah Berlin was a trailblazing 20th century scholar, philosopher and author, who championed pluralistic thinking and openness to ideas.

One of Great Britain's leading male actors in the 1950s, Dirk Bogarde is known for his complex roles in the dark films Death in Venice (1912), Victim (1961) and The Night Porter (1974).

Sir Richard Burton was a British explorer and linguist. He translated The Arabian Nights, and wrote extensively about his travels in Asia, Africa and America.

Charles I was a monarch of the Hapsburg line who was the last emperor of Austria and king of Hungary. He lost his throne at the end of World War I.

An author of more than 100 books, Arthur C. Clarke’s imagination and insight influenced modern science via works like his classic 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Oscar-winning Scottish actor Sean Connery played "007" in the first James Bond spy movies. He also played the Indiane Jones's father in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

John Warcup Cornforth is an Australian scientist who won the 1975 Nobel Prize for his research in stereochemistry and enzyme-based synthesis.

Humphry Davy was a British chemist best known for his contributions to the discoveries of chlorine and iodine. He is noted for suggesting the anesthetic use of nitrous oxide in human surgery.

Author Arthur Conan Doyle wrote 60 mystery stories featuring the wildly popular detective character Sherlock Holmes and his loyal assistant Watson.

Arthur Evans was a noted archaeologist and curator known for unearthing the remains of ancient Minoan civilization.

Alex Ferguson is a Scottish soccer player known for his highly successful, long-term management of the Manchester United league.

Sandford Fleming was a civil engineer and scientist best known as the chief railway engineer of Canada in the 19th century.

English explorer Martin Frobisher is best known for his attempts to discover a Northwest Passage and his voyages to Labrador and Frobisher Bay in Canada.

David Frost is an English media personality best known for his 1977 interviews with President Richard Nixon, which were adapted for a play and the critically acclaimed film Frost/Nixon. Frost hosted several television programs in the United States and Britain.

Francis Galton was an English explorer and anthropologist best known for his research in eugenics and human intelligence. He was the first to study the effects of human selective mating.

James Galway is an internationally renowned flutist who includes both classical and contemporary works in his repertoire.

Entrepreneur Bill Gates founded the world's largest software business, Microsoft, with Paul Allen and became one of the richest men in the world.

Bob Geldof is best known as the singer of the band the Boomtown Rats and for his political activism, particularly anti-poverty efforts in Africa.

Billy Graham was an evangelist at revival meetings, and on radio and television for over 40 years. He preached to more individuals than anyone else in history.

Rex Harrison was a Tony- and an Oscar-winning English actor known for his film and stage performances. His most famous role is that of Henry Higgins in the film musical My Fair Lady.

Filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock was nicknamed the "Master of Suspense" for employing a kind of psychological suspense in his films, producing a distinct viewer experience.

Bob Hope was a entertainer and comic actor, known for his rapid-fire delivery of jokes and for his success in virtually all entertainment media.

Anthony Hopkins is an Oscar-winning actor known for roles in many films, including The Lion in Winter, Silence of the Lambs and The Remains of the Day.

Elton John is a British singer, pianist and composer who was one of the most popular musicians of the 20th century. Along with selling more than 250 million records he has found success on Broadway, composing the music score for the Tony award winning hit Billy Elliot (2008).

Ben Kingsley is an Academy Award-winning actor known for his work in films like Gandhi, Bugsy and Schindler’s List.

Thomas Klestil was an Austrian statesman and the 10th president of Austria.

Bernard Law Montgomery led the British Eighth Army in North Africa during World War Two and oversaw British participation during the D-Day invasion.

David Lean was a British director and screenwriter best known for his spectacular cinematography and adaptations of Charles Dickens classics, including Great Expectations (1946) and Oliver Twist (1948).

Professor Peter Mansfield received the Nobel Prize for further developing magnetic resonance (MRI) technology, leading to its widespread use in hospitals.

British vocalist, songwriter, musician, and composer, Paul McCartney was a member of the Beatles as well as one of the most popular solo performers of all time.

Alexander McQueen was a London-based, English fashion designer who was head designer of the Louis Vuitton Givenchy fashion line, before starting his own line.

Henry Morgan was a Welsh Admiral who raided Spanish settlements in the late 17th century. He is accounted as one of the most notorious buccaneers in history.

English physicist and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton, most famous for his law of gravitation, was instrumental in the scientific revolution of the 17th century.

Sculptor Eduardo Paolozzi's collage work combining surrealism with elements of popular culture and technology led him to be credited as the inventor of Pop Art.

Sir Anthony Quayle was a revered actor of stage and screen known for work that included Hamlet, Lawrence of Arabia and Anne of the Thousand Days.

Stamford Raffles was an English administrator and traveler who oversaw the establishment of Singapore.

Sir Walter Raleigh was an English adventurer and writer who established a colony near Roanoke Island, now known as Virginia. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London and eventually put to death for treason.

British thespian Michael Redgrave is acclaimed for his theater and film roles. He has also sired two generations of acting luminaries.

Salman Rushdie is a British-Indian novelist best known for the novels Midnight's Children (1981) and The Satanic Verses (1988), for which he was accused of blasphemy against Islam.

Ridley Scott is an English director and producer, whose notable hits include Thelma and Louise, Gladiator and Black Hawk Down. He is also recognized as the older brother of director Tony Scott, who committed suicide in August 2012.

Sir Tom Stoppard is a Czech-born British playwright whose famous works include Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1964) and Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (1978). He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1998 Academy Award winning film Shakespeare in Love. 

J.J. Thomson was a Nobel Prize winning physicist whose research led to the discovery of electrons.

Peter Ustinov was an English actor, writer and director who is known for his Oscar-winning performances in Spartacus (1960) and Topkapi (1964).

Composer. Andrew Lloyd Webber is an English composer known for such musical theater hits as Cats, Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar and The Phantom of the Opera.