Only my friends can call me Sir!

ARTIST Grayson Perry isn’t like some Sirs who insist on their title being used at all times (step forward Sir Ben Kingsley).

He was made a Knight Bachelor for services to the arts in the New Year’s Honours list, but only styles himself ‘ Sir Grayson’ as a joke when chatting to friends.

Perry, 62, who often appears in public as his female alter-ego Claire, said: ‘I find that if you have a knighthood, the more informal the situation the more fun it is to use it. You can’t use it in a formal situation or you look like a t****r. Now I sign off emails to best friends, ‘Sir Grayson’.

He briefly debated whether to accept the honour. ‘I turn down things all the time. It’s the nature of success,’ says Perry. But daughter Flo encouraged him. Perry’s wife Philippa said: ‘We asked our daughter and she said: “Don’t be a d**k.” ’