SIR MICK GETS (DELAYED) SATISFACTION

LONDON ( BBC/Reuters) - Mick Jagger will be given his knighthood on  December 12th, 2003, almost 18 months after it was announced. Jagger, who will now be known officially as Sir Michael Philip Jagger, becomes a knight for "services to popular music".

The knighthood was delayed due to the Rolling Stones' 40th anniversary world tour, which began last September in Boston and ended in Zurich last month. But Keith Richards is not amused.

The legendary Rolling Stones' guitarist has flown into a rock and roll rage against   Jagger over the singer's decision to accept a knighthood, the ultimate nod from the British establishment. "I don't want to step out onstage with someone wearing a coronet and sporting the old ermine," Richards told British music magazine Uncut in an expletive-rich interview.

Mick & Keith in happier times

"I told Mick it's a paltry honor ... It's not what the Stones is about, is it?"

Richards' own chances of arising Sir Keith, already thought slim after 59 years of hard living, will have receded even further.

Jagger expressed surprise when the knighthood was announced in 2002, adding that his friends and family were amused at him being given a title by the Queen. He also said his four-year-old son, Gabriel, was a bit confused about his father's new title. The boy told his class that his father was going to be knighted.  When the teacher asked what that meant, Gabriel said: "Well, he goes to the castle to see the King and gets to be a knight, and, from then on, gets to wear armor all the time.

The Rolling Stones singer, once seen as the scourge of the Establishment, said he had not been waiting for a knighthood, although other pop stars from the 1960s such as Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Cliff Richard have received the honour.

"Noel Coward didn't get a knighthood until he was 80. Tom Stoppard's older than me - he didn't get a knighthood until recently," he said.

"I didn't expect to get one. I just didn't," he added.

The award had already generated some controversy. Despite his age--he turned 60 on July 26--Jagger has not perfected the art of growing old gracefully, with a string of flings with models, one of which resulted in a love child born in Jagger's mid-50s. The knighthood could reopen an ongoing debate about who is suitable for the Queen's list. Jagger also has a drug conviction; likewise, knighted rock stars Sir Elton John and Sir Paul McCartney have admitted drug use in the past.


Mick Jagger Website