Why does the wife of a knight become a Lady but the husband of a Dame isn't a Sir!!

Why do we have knights in the 21st century?

Why do people from showbiz get awarded the title ? Or any other gong

Such an outdated load of bumf if Elton John had slayed a dragon ...maybe, anything else, nah, silly stuff

We (society?) tend to value celebs over real heroes! We give gongs to lesser mortals : brave men and women, hard workers etc but the big badges tend to go to celebs or government darlings..maybe because they have the money to carry it off.
Occasionally some more ordinary person does get a knighthood or dameship but it is less usual. Time to halt it all??

In answer to the OP, Dame is equal in rank to Sir,
Dame Judy Dench is equal to Sir Paul McCartney and they have received their honors for services judged to be worthy.

I think Lady is a polite non official title, also a lot of women use their maiden name and very often there is no appropriate equivalent.

Wether high ranking civil servants are entitled is another matter, having said all that it was always Lady Thatcher, so maybe Dame and Lady interchangeable.

I hope Prince Charles overhauls the Honours system when he is King.

Lady whatever is only a courtesy title. They can't call themselves Lady first name, it has to be their married name as they haven't inherited the title.

The honours system is a joke and unnecessary these days.

Tell you what, if TM pulls off any kind of a Brexit deal, she will deserve a knighthood... and I'm neither a Brexiteer or a Tory.

It;s the same with Kings, isn't. When they marry their wife is Queen. But when a Queen is married, her husband does not have the title of King, but usually a Duke, as with Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Strange!
Some celebrities who get awards have often been involved in raising large sums of money for charity. Elton John in particular is known for his generosity to deserving people, and has raised many millions with his Aids charity.
P.S - The "Lady John" bit really made me chuckle!

henetha it is true that many celebs are recognised with a gong for charitable works & that celeb status can raise the profile of a charity.

Maggie Thatcher was eventually a Baroness of course a rank above a Dame and a member of the house of Lord.

The whole titles thing is a legacy of the patriarchal society where men are considered superior and the wife is a chattel of the husband. “Dame” isn’t a very noble title is it? Sounds like a panto character.

Hehe! I like that idea, Blinko ?

Do you mean Sir Treeza and Lady Philip? That won't work!

It'd be nicer IMO if Dame X could be Lady X instead. To me 'Dame' always has panto connotations - Widow Twanky, etc.

What grinds my gears is, for example, Sir Paul and Lady McCartney is correct but you often get the press calling the spouse Lady Nancy McCartney which is wrong. I agree about overhauling the honours system, whilst I see that many do outstanding things in their field and for charity there are far too many celebs and sportspeople honoured which rather diminishes the awards.

^ if TM pulls off any kind of a Brexit deal, she will deserve a knighthood..^

Blimey! I think she'll deserve a long prison sentence for failing to put country above party. (Along with D Cameron for getting us into this mess)