Uni honours famous faces
TV personality James May said he was "very proud and very flattered" to receive his honorary degree from Lancaster University last week.
The awardwinning journalist and star of Top Gear also added humorously that his Doctor of Letters was in recognition of his "academic superiority over his immediate peers", and that it had been a long time coming.
May, 47, who lives in London, graduated from the university in 1985 after studying music, and returned to the city last Thursday to accept his honorary degree.
He recalled a vibrant music scene both at the university and in the city during the mid Eighties. He said: "I've grown up a bit since those days, I've become much more academic, perhaps a bit more wizened and a bit more wise.
"I remember the classical music scene was very good, and the Great Hall was a pretty important venue.
"There was also a very good pop and rock scene, I remember seeing Squeeze, Big Country, U2 - it wasn't a very big venue but it was a very enthusiastic crowd.
"The best thing I ever saw at Lancaster, and I feel a bit embarrassed for saying so, was Slade - they were dangerously loud.
"My favourite bar on campus was Pendle, of course, it was a bit shabby but that's where all my mates hung out.
"In the city we'd go to the Brown Cow, Blue Anchor, Water Witch, The Sugarhouse of course, and The Alex. We were all terribly poor in those days, but you could quite easily have a great night out in Lancaster for a fiver."
He added that his friends in Galgate kept him up to speed with Lancaster University news and that he still kept in touch with some of the friends he made there.
Popular broadcaster Dame Joan Bakewell; founder of Booths supermarket Edwin Booth; leading researcher into global food security, Prof Kang Shaozhong; and president of the British Medical Association, Prof Averil Mansfield also received honorary degrees from the university this summer.
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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