Steve Gibson, the man who saved Middlesbrough Football Club when financial crisis plunged it into liquidation, is to receive an honorary master of science degree from the University of Teesside.
Teesside will also award honorary degrees to Mo Mowlam, secretary of state for Northern Ireland; Caroline Dale, the Middlesbrough cellist; Rob Tefler, chair of governors at the university; Stuart Hall, former professor of sociology at the Open University and immediate past president of the British Sociological Association; and Trevor Bayliss, the inventor of the clockwork radio.
Bradford University has also been busy with the honours. Sir David Attenborough is to receive an honorary degree along with comedy actor Bill Owen; filmmaker Steve Abbott (with Brassed Off and A Fish Called Wanda to his credits); the inventor of the bagless vacuum cleaner James Dyson; director of nursing at the Department of Health Yvonne Moores and Tom Connors for his contribution to cancer research.
Peter Edwards, professor of inorganic chemistry and head of the school of chemistry at Birmingham University, has been awarded the Liversidge Medal and Endowed Lectureship of the Royal Society of Chemistry. The award, presented every two years, is given for major advances in knowledge. Professor Edwards will lecture on "Metals and the metallic state".
The University of the West of England is to award an honorary degree to David Calcutt in recognition of his contribution to legal education. He is treasurer of the Middle Temple and for 20 years served on the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board. The university has also awarded an honorary degree to Maggie Guillebaud for her work in the arts and education in the west of England and to David Bethel, former director of Leicester Polytechnic, where he laid the foundations for De Montfort University, for his contribution to higher education and design.