His campaign to have the decision reviewed has been backed by businessman Lord Sugar, TV chef Jamie Oliver and the double Olympic gold medallist Mo Farah.
Within hours of landing, I had sat at the organ upon which George Frideric Handel played the London premiere of "Messiah, " stood in the poky little room where Charles Dickens wrote "Oliver Twist, " and accepted my award upon the very spot that the residence of Lord Peter Wimsey had once stood, at 110A Piccadilly.