LONDON - The British government has released the names of 277 people -- actors, writers, musicians, politicians, scientists and others -- who for reasons known mostly to themselves rejected the rarefied opportunity to become knights, dames and the like between 1951 and 1999.

Included are author Roald Dahl, who did not want to receive the Order of the British Empire in 1986; playwright Graham Greene, who did not want to be a Commander of the British Empire, in 1956; and writer Aldous Huxley, who turned down knighthood in 1959.

The list, released only after repeated Freedom of Information requests by the BBC, includes only dead people and leaves it anyone's guess as to why they declined their awards. But some people who turned down awards in the past have given their reasons.

Offered an OBE by Tony Blair's government in 2003, poet Benjamin Zephaniah responded, "Stick it, Mr. Blair and Mrs. Queen." David Bowie said no to a CBE in 2000 because, he explained, "I seriously don't know what it's for." Alfred Hitchcock turned down a CBE in 1962, but perhaps he was angling for something better -- he was later made a Knight Commander of the British Empire.

NEW YORK TIMES

Knight, lang, Lovett coming to Twin CitiesTwo powerhouse vocalists and two potent songwriters have announced Twin Cities concerts. Gladys Knight, sans Pips, will bring her "Midnight Train to Georgia" to Mystic Lake Casino on April 27. Tickets, priced at $55 and $69, will go on sale Saturday. k.d. lang will bring her new band, the Siss Boom Bang, to the O'Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University on May 10. Tickets, priced at $56 and $53, will go on sale at noon Friday. Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt return March 7 at the State Theatre for the second consecutive year of trading acoustic songs and witty barbs. Tickets, priced from $43.50 to $79, will go on sale at 11 a.m. Friday. In other concert news, Pert Near Sandstone, the Minnesota bluegrassy band that sold out two shows at the Cedar Cultural Center last week, will make its first headline appearance at First Avenue on April 6.

CELEBRITY OBITS: John Rich, Emmy-winning director of TV's "All in the Family" and "Dick Van Dyke," has died at 86. Other deaths: Dick Tufeld, 85, who possessed one of Hollywood's most often-heard disembodied voices best known for his electronic intonations as the robot in the series "Lost in Space" ... Dick Kniss, 74, a self-taught musician who for more than 40 years played stand-up bass behind Peter, Paul and Mary, becoming a veritable fourth member of the folk-singing trio ... Robert Hegyes, 60, who played Juan Epstein, the Sweathog voted Most Likely to Take a Life, on the 1970s sitcom "Welcome Back, Kotter."