Members
Membership is limited to 200 long-serving male members of the industry. Some are household names but many are not, but all must be respected and trusted by their peers. Joining the Order is an exclusive and complicated process which involves finding a proposer and seconder within the Order, consideration by the Order's Grand Council and finally a vote which needs a large majority for success. The present King Rat (2012) is comedian Joe Pasquale. Current members include: Derek Martin, Con and Dec Cluskey of The Bachelors, Engelbert Humperdinck, Lionel Blair, Tom O'Connor, Frank Bruno, Barry Cryer, Don Smoothey, Paul Daniels, Billy Murray, Brian May, Nicholas Parsons, Roy Hudd, Ken Dodd, John Bardon, Joe Pasquale, Jimmy Perry, Richard Joy, Bill Pertwee, Kaplan Kaye and Rick Wakeman.
Past members include Bob Holness, Frank Carson, Max Bygraves, Charlie Chaplin, Peter Lorre, Peter Sellers, Danny Kaye, Davy Kaye, Laurel and Hardy, Maurice Chevalier, Bob Hope, Will Hay, Frankie Vaughan, Tommy Cooper, Ted Ray, Les Dawson, George Martin, Sir John Mills, Sir Billy Butlin, David Nixon, Howard Keel, Sir Harry Secombe, Arthur English, Charlie Chester, Arthur Haynes, Derek Dene, Jimmy Wheeler, Sir Norman Wisdom and Bert Weedon.
Members of the order wear a small gold badge shaped as a water rat on the left lapel of their jackets, and if one Water Rat meets another who is not wearing his badge he is fined with the money going to charity. Magician David Nixon wore his badge while appearing on television, explaining that as current King Rat he could be fined by any other member who saw him on screen without it.
There are also a small number of Companion Rats; distinguished men from various fields of business and influence who are not performers but who have achieved recognition for their support and friendship of the Order. These include Bob Potter OBE, Rear Admiral Sir Donald Gosling, The Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales and Prince Michael of Kent.
Read more about this topic: Grand Order Of Water Rats
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