What Famous People Have Been Knighted?

One example of a famous person who has been knighted is musician Bob Geldof (of the Boomtown Rats). This Irish rocker, who had a huge musical hit with his song, "I Don't Like Mondays", received this highest of honors when he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II after his Live-Aid charity concert in the late 1980's. Geldof spearheaded the entire Live-Aid concert, which raised millions of dollars for African famine relief. Performers who appeared at Live-Aid included:
 Collins, of Genesis fame
• U2
• Sting
• Duran Duran
• Mick Jagger
• Bryan Adams

Another celebrity who was knighted by the Queen is the charming and handsome Star Trek actor, Patrick Stewart. This British thespian's beautiful speaking voice and innate charisma have made him extremely popular with fans all over the world. Now christened Sir Patrick Stewart, this actor has appeared in countless films and television series.

Women can't be knighted, they are made "Dames" instead; one example of a woman who earned this honor is Dame Judi Dench; Dench is an actress who portrays classic James Bond character "M" in the recent 007 films; she's also appeared in wonderful period films, such as Pride & Prejudice.
There are lower honors bestowed by the Queen, such as OBE's and so forth - the Beatles receives OBE's, but John Lennon sent his back afterwards, as he was not a true proponent of the monarchy and the class system.

Are Celebrity Investors Worth the Hype?

In an age dominated by startups, how do you rise above the clutter and make your brand visible?Ditch the spokesmodel and get yourself a celebrity investor.

There's the teen sensation Justin Bieber, who recently announced a $1.1 million contribution to the selfie-sharing app Shots of Me. That's on top of the handful of gaming and mobile companies with whom he’s already invested.

DiCaprio has not only kicked in to a recent $28 million funding round to Instagram nemesis Mobli, but also serves as a fulltime advisor. And countless actors -- from Robert De Niro, who co-founded Nobu Restaurants, to Bill Murray, who co-owns Charleston, S.C., eatery Rutledge Cab Co. -- have backed hospitality ventures.

And then, of course, there's Ashton Kutcher, who -- famously, at this point -- supported Skype in its early days, as well as invested in rising social lodging star Airbnb.
A-list backers can surely bring notoriety to a fledgling brand and they typically only make money off their contributions if a startup finds financial success, gets acquired or goes public. But, there's still a lot at stake for young-company founders. In addition to catering to the vagaries of celebrity, giving up future earnings may not be for everyone. So the question is, are celeb backers worth their price?

Consider Justin Timberlake's investment stake in Myspace. In 2011, the social networking site that spent time at the top of the social-media pyramid before getting pummeled by Facebook, sold for $35 million to Specific Media. Just six years earlier, media tycoon Rupert Murdoch bought the site for $580 million.

Pop stars aren’t the only ones joining the ranks of the star-studded investor elite. Athletes like Peyton Manning have found entrepreneurship a lucrative avenue, as well. The quarterback for the Denver Broncos entered the pizza business last year, snatching up 21 Papa John’s stores in the Denver area. Many of the outposts have reportedly seen spikes in daily sales that have as much as doubled the revenue from the pre-Manning days. (Of course, incentives to football fans and pizza lovers alike—such as 50 percent-off Mondays when the Broncos win—have done nothing to temper that success.)

Despite the obvious marketing boon, some stars may bring harm to a brand's image. Examples of media belly flops include: Lance Armstrong, who lost Nike, Anheuser-Busch after a doping scandal. There's also Tiger Woods who shed various sponsors including Gillette, AT&T and Gatorade, after a car crash brought his unseemly personal life into the open. U2 frontman Bono was named “the worst investor in America” by financial site 24/7 Wall Street a few years back after his investment in a private equity firm Elevation Partners lost him millions when the smartphone company Palm failed to live up to the success of competitors like Apple.

Jones, for one, believes a startup’s success is entirely dependent upon the execution and how it incorporates a famous face

Read more:

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/229943