From 1977 to 1989 Gielgud was president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art—a symbolic position—and was the academy's first honorary fellow (1989). In 1996 the Globe Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue was renamed the Gielgud Theatre. He had not acted on stage for eight years, and felt out of touch with the West End: he commented on the renaming of the theatre, "At last there is a name in lights on the Avenue which I actually recognise, even if it is my own."