The actor achieved global fame as a co-founder of the comedy troupe Monty Python, starring in all four feature films.

He is also widely recognised for co-writing and starring as Basil Fawlty in the highly acclaimed sitcom Fawlty Towers.

Mr Cleese’s other iconic parts include the friendly Hogwarts ghost, Nearly Headless Nick, in multiple Harry Potter films.

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John Cleese. (Image: CinemaLive)

With the King’s New Year’s Honours list being announced for 2026, several famous names have resurfaced due to them turning down honours in the past.

One of these is Mr Cleese, who declined appointment as a CBE back in 1996 before then rejecting the offer of a life peerage in 1999.

Turning down a seat in the House of Lords, he stated that he “did not wish to spend winters in England” and being a peer would be “ridiculous”.

Mr Cleese has spoken in the past about his love of Oxford, including in an exclusive interview with this newspaper back in 2017.

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He said: “Well, I have a special place in my heart for Oxford Playhouse and a soft spot for Oxford, after all, Python was made up of two from Oxford and three from Cambridge.

“I came here with Footlights, and it was my first real taste of a live audience, performing there in 1962 with the likes of Graham Chapman and Miriam Margolyes.

“We were doing a sketch about reading football results with the wrong inflexions, and I suddenly realised ‘Christ, I’m supposed to be on stage’.

“I hurtled down the stairs and landed on stage in the empty spotlight with the quip, ‘and just in, some late results’.

“I think it was my best ad lib ever, actually.”