Glittering prizes

Birkbeck College, London , has awarded fellowships to: Richard Evans , professor of modern history at the University of Cambridge and fellow of Gonville and Caius College; Peter Mortimore , a former pro vice-chancellor of the University of London and director of the Institute of Education; and Sir David Cox , former warden of Nuffield College, Oxford.

The University of Salford has awarded honorary degrees to: actor Christopher Eccleston ; Leslie Woodhead , television and film producer and director; and Frank Eaton , retired industrialist and fellow of the Institute of Materials.

Queen's University, Belfast , has awarded honorary degrees to: former footballer George Best ; Tom Devine , director of the research institute of Irish and Scottish history at the University of Aberdeen; John Dunlop , a former moderator of the Presbyterian Church; Brian Hanna , chief executive of Belfast City Council; Gerald Jennings , businessman and founder of the Rotary Group of companies; film-maker Neil Jordan ; Gordon Millington , a retired senior partner in consulting engineers Kirk, McClure and Morton; Paul Muldoon , Howard G. B. Clark professor and director of the creative writing programme at Princeton University; Frank Partridge , professor of cardiology at Queen's; retired film-maker Lord Puttnam of Queensgate ; Sean Quinn , founder of Sean Quinn Quarries Ltd; and political cartoonist Martyn Turner .

Henry Rishbeth , emeritus professor at the University of Southampton, has been awarded the Royal Astronomical Society's gold medal for geophysics for 2001.