Board Thread:The Reference Desk/@comment-4139960-20131130010054/@comment-2378-20131130033107

Well, I took literally but it's a bit unclear either way. The use of "the Honourable" in the UK applies to sons and daughters of viscounts and barons and the younger sons of earls so that's why I thought that he might be an aristocrat who didn't use his title because he thought that it'd make him look uncool. Like Jeremy Brett didn't publicise the fact that he was the then Duke of Wellington's grandson when he started his pop career.