Glittering prizes

City University will award honorary degrees to: Sir Richard Wilson , cabinet secretary and head of the home civil service; Clive Leyman , former chief aerodynamicist on Concorde; journalist Simon Jenkins ; Gladys Parish , secretary to the pro vice-chancellor; Roger Brooke , businessman and former diplomat; and Robert Chappell , optometrist and treasurer of the College of Optometrists.

The University of Aberdeen will award honorary degrees to: Ottar Brox , former professor of sociology at the Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research; literary critic Helen Vendler of Harvard University; singer Raimund Herincx ; Alasdair MacIntyre , professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame; Onora O'Neill , principal of Newnham College, Cambridge; broadcaster Kirsty Wark ; marine scientist John Steele ; George Gray , emeritus professor of chemistry at the University of Hull; Sir Duncan Michael , chairman of trustees for the Ove Arup Partnership; Thomas Wright , canon theologian of Westminster; Edmund Kelly of American insurance group Liberty Mutual; Sir Colin Campbell , vice-chancellor of the University of Nottingham; parliamentarian Sir David Steel ; and obstetrician Lord Patel .

The University of Wales, Swansea , is to award honorary fellowships to: Tanni Grey Thompson , Olympic gold medallist in the women's wheelchair athletics in 2000; Labour MP Bruce George ; Sir Keith Peters , regis professsor of physic at the University of Cambridge; Andrew Green , head of the National Library of Wales; actress Catherine Zeta Jones ; Conservative politician Michael Heseltine ; Lord Williams of Mostyn ; industrialist Piers Cooper ; and musician Nicky Wire .

Anglia Polytechnic University has awarded honorary degrees to: Alan Mitchell of the Ford Motor Company and Peter Raine of Superdrug.