Johnny Vegas spearheads campaign

Johnny Vegas is spearheading a campaign to award a posthumous OBE to Les Dawson.

Supporters say it was unfair that the comedian, who died in 1993, was not honoured when the likes of Jimmy Savile were.

An online petition calls on the government to award the OBE for his contribution to the entertainment industry and charity – saying that he raised more than £1million in 1989 alone

Vegas tweeted the link to his 173,000 followers today,urging: ‘Dear Les Dawson fans, here's a petition requesting the posthumous OBE our National Treasure so richly deserves’

The campaign has so far attracted more than 1,300 petition and has also been backed by his widow, Tracy, who said: ‘Les was a good man and it is beyond me how this hasn’t been recognised.’

Dawson is rumoured to have been overlooked in 1987 because of gossip about his private life. He started dating Tracy, who was 18 years his junior, only a year after his first wife Meg had died of cancer.

However, the campaign looks unlikely to succeed, since official guidelines say only the living should be honoured.

Operational notes lodged in the House of Commons library say: ‘The award of an honour makes the nominee a member of an Order and to become a member you have to be alive (in much the same way as membership of a football team). Sometimes the nominee may accept an award but dies before being able to collect it.’

Last year, inspirational teenage cancer fundraiser Stephen Sutton was awarded the MBE posthumously, learning of his honour just days before he died at 19, having raised £5million.

Another online petition to award Rik Mayall a posthumous OBE has 800 signatures.

Published: 15 Jan 2015