Chancellor�s choice: honorary degrees for top 10

21 November 2003

The Chancellor of Oxford University, Chris Patten, CH, awarded honorary degrees to a group of distinguished men and women – including Senator Bill Bradley, writer Dr Mario Vargas Llosa, Dame Jennifer Jenkins, and the current Vice-Chancellor, Sir Colin Lucas – at a special ceremony today [Friday 21 November].

According to tradition, new Chancellors of the University are able to select a number of individuals to receive honorary degrees. The names must then be approved by the University's Council and Congregation before the honours are awarded.

In 1870 Robert Cecil, Marquis of Salisbury, awarded a total of 50 honorary degrees, but the University's latest Chancellor has restricted himself to honouring 10 men and women. They are:

Doctor of Divinity (honoris causa):

Father Timothy Radcliffe was Prior Provincial of the English Province of the Dominican Order from 1988 to 1992, when he became Master of the worldwide Order – a position he held until 2001.

Doctors of Civil Law (honoris causa):

Professor Giuliano Amato was Italian Prime Minister from 1992 to 1993 and 2000 to 2001, and has been a member of the Senate since 2001. He was Vice-President of the Convention on the Future of Europe 2002 to 2003.

Senator Bill Bradley won an Olympic gold medal for basketball at the 1964 Olympic Games and went on to become a professional for the New York Knicks. He served in the Senate from 1979 to 1997 representing the state of New Jersey. In 2000 he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States.

Mr Lakhdar Brahimi was reappointed as the Secretary-General of the UN's Special Representative for Afghanistan in October 2001 following the overthrow of the Taliban regime. While working for the UN in South Africa he led a mission which observed and assisted the elections which brought Nelson Mandela to power. He oversaw the production for the UN of the Brahimi Report on Peacekeeping.

Lord Carrington entered politics after being awarded the Military Cross in 1945. He held numerous offices of state, including Defence, Energy, and Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. He was High Commissioner in Australia (1956–69), Leader of the House of Lords (1963–64), Leader of the Opposition (1964–70 and 1974–79), and Secretary-General of NATO from 1984 to 1988.

Mr Andrew Graham was elected Master of Balliol College in 2001. Throughout much of his career he has combined academic work with his role as an economic and policy adviser to Government. In 2000 he initiated and led a University of Oxford and Balliol plan to establish the Oxford Internet Institute (OII).

Dame Jennifer Jenkins has been President of the Ancient Monuments Society since 1985. She helped to establish, and later chaired, the Consumers' Association, and has also chaired a number of organisations concerned with the conservation of historic buildings and the countryside In 1945 she married Roy Jenkins, who from 1987 to his death in 2003 was Chancellor of the University.

Sir Colin Lucas became Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University in 1997 and was reappointed for a further three years in 2001. Elected Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 1974, he has held academic positions in both the UK and abroad. Sir Colin has received a number of distinctions from France (including being made Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur in 1998) in recognition of his contribution to French history.

Doctors of Letters (honoris causa):

Professor Jonathan Spence was named CMG in 2001 for services to the study of modern China. He was appointed to the History Department at Yale University in 1966, and named Professor there in 1971 and Sterling Professor in 1993. His publications include The Death of Woman Wang (1978), The Search for Modern China (1990), and Treason by the Book (2001).

Dr Mario Vargas Llosa is an internationally acclaimed writer. After studying in his native Peru and in Madrid, he embarked on a journalistic career. After working as a journalist in Peru and France, he was appointed in 1967 to a lecturership in Latin American literature at Queen Mary College, London, and later at King's College, London. Dr Vargas Llosa founded the Movimento Libertad and was co-founder of the Frente Democrático coalition.