Ensuring that he and Paul McCartney finally have something to talk about the next time they run into each other at a party, Ringo Starr has officially been knighted by the United Kingdom. Starr—who previously received an MBE with the rest of The Beatles back in 1965—was recognized for his general contributions to music and also, we imagine, for remaining a supremely good sport about the roughly 8 billion “Ringo was the subpar Beattle” jokes that have been made about him over the last 50 years.
True to form, everyone’s favorite bongo-beating Liverpudlian doesn’t appear to have let his new knighting go to his head; when asked by reporters what he’ll be doing with his shiny new medal, he declared, “I’ll be wearing it at breakfast.” (Tragically, he did not say, “I hung it on me wall!,” which would have really made our days.) Starr also noted that he and McCartney—who was knighted 21 years ago—had dinner together last week, and that his former bandmate, ever willing to encourage Ringo to play to his strengths, gave him advice for the ceremony: “Keep smiling.”