why not "Sir?

I was doing some casual reading on Professor Tolkien and read that he
had received the OBE from the Queen. However, he is only a "commander"
(third level) and therefore, not to be addressed as "Sir." I can't seem
to find anything indicating why the Professor has not been awarded the
second or even first level OBE and therefore entitled to to duly
addressed as " Sir." How could be be viewed as a third level British
subject and not second or first?
Can you shed any light on that.
Gary

On Aug 12, 8:18 am, Stan Brown <the_stan_br....TakeThisOut@fastmail.fm> wrote:
> [crossposted to alt.talk.royalty]
>
> Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:09:58 -0500 from music <mu....TakeThisOut@kvne.com>:
>
> > I was doing some casual reading on Professor Tolkien and read that he
> > had received the OBE from the Queen. However, he is only a "commander"
> > (third level) and therefore, not to be addressed as "Sir." I can't seem
> > to find anything indicating why the Professor has not been awarded the
> > second or even first level OBE and therefore entitled to to duly
> > addressed as " Sir." How could be be viewed as a third level British
> > subject and not second or first?
>
> P.G. Wodehouse was knighted, but by the time of Tolkien's honor the
> government's policy was to reduce the number of honors granted. There
> were no more new hereditary peerages outside the Royal Family, for
> instance.
>
> Perhaps -- and I'm only speculating here -- it was felt that Tolkien
> had produced only one major literary work, while Wodehouse had
> produced much more over the course of his life. Perhaps, too, yjere
> was still a little bit of a stigma attached to "mere fantasy". I
> believe Lewis Carroll, whose "Alice" books in their day were as
> popular as LotR, never received any sort of honour.
>
> On the other hand, actors have received knighthoods even much more
> recently.
>
> Does anyone know why Tolkien was given an OBE rather than a  
> knightbood?
>
The quotation and the commenary are somewhat garbled.

OBE stands for Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British
Empire, and applies to the fourth class of that order.

Professor John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was awarded the Third Class or
Commander of of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire "for
services to English literature" in the New Years Honours List 31st
December 1971. This class of award is signified by the post nominal
letters CBE.

One will never know why he never received a knighthood. He may well
have been offered one and declined or never offered one a all, one
will never know. It is normally the case that people are sounded out
before their names are put forward. However, one usually rises in
steps and a CBE may well be followed by Knight Bachelor a few years
later, provided more good works have been performed. In this case he
died only about a year and a half after receiving his CBE.

Of course, it does not help one's case to be openly and vehemently
anti the Queen's church!