Modern knighthood is, for the most part, a nice tip of the hat marked by a good dinner and a number of firm handshakes. However, if you could actually watch two knights battle their way across the realm, you could do a lot worse than picking Ringo Starr and Barry Gibb. The Beatles drummer and Bee Gees singer are among the Brits named on Queen Elizabeth II’s 2018 New Years Honours list. This will actually be the second such award for Starr, as he and his bandmates were collectively named Members of the Order of the British Empire at the palace’s 1965 Birthday Honours. In response to his impending individual knighthood, Starr told the BBC, “It’s great! It’s an honour and a pleasure to be considered and acknowledged for my music and my charity work, both of which I love. Peace and love.” Gibb, meanwhile, received a Knights Bachelor “for his services to music and charity.” Well, Galahad and Lancelot had a good-enough run. Let’s go ahead, swap them out, and teach our children/British literature students about the adventures of Sir Ringo and Sir Barry instead. Literally nothing is stopping us!
