Honours go for a song

Warwick University made the acclaimed British composer Michael Nyman sing for his supper before awarding him an honorary degree last week.

Mr Nyman had composed a fanfare especially for the university's degree ceremonies, which was heard for first time when he collected his own degree certificate. Warwick had apparently considered asking the day's other honorary graduate to show his skills, but it decided that getting Sir Alec Jeffreys to use his DNA fingerprinting technique on the assembled students and parents would make for a messy and undignified affair.