Michael Winner, the outspoken film director who lists “being awkward” among his hobbies, has revealed that he turned down an OBE because he feels the award is for “toilet cleaners”. Winner, 70, who directed the violent Death Wish films starring Charles Bronson but is now best known for fronting an insurance advert, said he refused the honour because “an OBE is what you get if you clean the toilets at King’s Cross station”.
The director, who is also a restaurant critic and newspaper columnist, said he had been offered an OBE in the Queen’s 80th birthday list for services to the police.He has campaigned since the shooting of WPC Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan embassy in 1984 for a memorial to commemorate police killed in the line of duty.He told today’s The Sunday Times: “I’m very glad that they recognise my considerable skills as a toilet cleaner. Its tactics include arson, use of explosives and physical intimidation.The Animal Rights Militia: An extreme offshoot of the ALF formed in the 1980s, it desecrated the grave of an elderly relative of one of the owners of a guinea pig farm. Police recovered Gladys Hammond’s remains earlier this month and four activists have been jailed for their part in what the judge called a “campaign of terror”.Gateway to Hell: This group has dedicated itself to a violent campaign against companies that it holds responsible for the transportation of live animals for laboratory research.The Justice Department: Another extension of the ALF, it has been behind attacks on companies involved in the live export trade.. Formed in the UK in the 1970s, it has since spread to the US.

Extremist groups known to operate in this country include the following:The Animal Liberation Front: A militant group which is the hub for Britain’s animal rights activists. Ms Gardner believes that the stealing of Gladys Hammond’s remains from her grave in Staffordshire, has changed public opinion of animal rights activists. “It horrified people,” she said.THE TERROR GROUPSIn the UK, it is estimated that 2,500 animal rights activists are ready to take the law into their hands at any time, with a hardcore of 250 capable of carrying out major arson attacks. The family suffered death threats, paint attacks and – like the others – a bomb hoax The tide may be turning, however.

But the attacks kept coming.Mrs Chisholm was in the house with her daughter and another child when the extremists struck again. “It was horrendous.They had thrown paint over the guard’s car. They had thrown glass bottles filled with paint at the house, they had covered my daughter’s toys in thick, red emulsion paint The dogs were covered in it That was the end of me I slowly went to pieces. I was scared of everything.”Eventually, she was forced to leave the job she loved, working with deaf children. After nine months of continual harassment, the attacks began to ease off. But the family still receive silent phone calls and threatening letters.One weekend last month, Nicki Smith and her family were preparing for another spell in the firing line at their home a couple of hundred miles away from the Chisholms.