Turned down a knighthood?

Just been reading a wikipedia list of people who have turned down British honours, and was quite surprised to read that apparentely Malcolm McDowell turned down both a CBE in 1984 and a Knighthood in 1995. It said [citation needed] so I did a google search and still found a few websites mentioning this.

I could buy him being offered a CBE but I can't quite believe he'd be offered a knighthood because by his own admittance he's done a lot of bad movies just for the money, and although he's got classics like A Clockwork Orange (which he'll always be famous for) and If..., his filmography is weighed down quite heavily by B-movie crap. Although a star, he's not exactly A-list, I don't think.

And also he hasn't done any stage work for a very long time, this usually seems to be a key factor in actors getting knighthoods. The only actor knights that have just stuck to movies have been superstars Sean Connery, Michael Caine and Christopher Lee (who's still working at nearly 90 and has done more films than just about anyone).

And he's lived outside of the UK for decades, but then this didn't stop Sean Connery being knighted.

I still like Malcolm, I just find it hard to believe he was once offered a knighthood, and so long ago. Anyone else ever heard about this?

What was funnier though was reading John Cleese declined a peerage in 1999, but this because of his involvement with the Liberal Democrats (so he could sit in the House of the Lords)