Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(orig. milit.) a medal; thus any form of award, e.g. a knighthood, an OBE.

1921		N&Q 12 Ser. IX 384: Gong. A medal.
1928		T.W.H. Crosland ‘Let Us Forget’ Last Poems 10: For now the Captains and the Kings / Have served us to the last old tide, / They hint that ‘silver gongs’ and things, / Merely conduce to beastly pride!
1946		S. Jackson An Indiscreet Guide to Soho 78: A rather nervous-looking R.A.F. pilot with a lot of ‘gongs’ on his chest.
1959		G. Slatter Gun in My Hand 239: No pennants on the wall. No promotion. No gongs.
1967		E. Shepard Doom Pussy 51: Smash received a gong, the Distinguished Flying Cross.
1981		P. White Flaws in the Glass 228: I had been offered one of these gongs [but] I have always felt that although such honours may be right for performers, they draw a writer’s teeth.
1989		A. Higgins ‘The Bird I Fancied’ Helsingør Station and Other Departures 172: He had flown in Beaufighters at night during the London Blitz, and had been awarded a ‘gong’.
2000		Guardian Guide 27 May–2 June 28: The Queen handed out gongs.
2008		ShortList (London) 22 May 9: ShortList bags six gongs.
2021		C. Hammer Opal Country 13: ‘I think our days of gongs and glory are a thing of the past’.