News

Honours for rugby, chemistry and the ultimate travel writer

(4 May 2004)

England Rugby World Cup player Will Greenwood, Nobel laureate for Chemistry Professor Sir Harry Kroto and best-selling author Bill Bryson are due to join the distinguished ranks of honorary graduates of Durham University.

The three men will receive honorary degrees during the annual three-day period of summer Congregations at Durham Cathedral when about 3,000 newly-graduating students receive their degrees. It will be a second Durham graduation for Will Greenwood, who gained a BA in Economics (Hatfield College) in 1994.

Sir Kenneth Calman, Vice-Chancellor said, “The University recognises the outstanding talents and achievements of these internationally acknowledged individuals. We are delighted to welcome them into our family of honorary graduates and look forward to celebrating their expertise and accomplishments”.

Notes to Editors

• Honorary degrees will be conferred on Thursday 1 and Friday 2 July 2004. More details will be issued in a media operations note nearer the day.

• The University is due to confer other honorary degrees during the year which will be announced separately.

• Biographical summaries are attached.

Further information

Jan Cawood, Public Relations Officer tel: 0191-334-0018

Biographical details

DCL Will Greenwood

• Harlequins and England rugby player
Born in Blackburn in 1972, Will studied Economics at Durham University alongside playing rugby. He toured Australia with England under 21 in 1993 and the A team in 1995. He made his international debut in 1997 and soon became a regular in the England squad. He scored a hat trick in the Six Nations versus Wales in Cardiff in 2001 and was named man-of-the-match in England’s Six Nations victory over Scotland in 2002. He was one of England’s most consistent performers in the England team who beat Australia in the Rugby World Cup in 2003.

DSc Professor Sir Harry Kroto

• Nobel laureate for Chemistry and an ambassador for science
Internationally acknowledged and honoured for his achievements in chemistry research, Sir Harry Kroto excels also as a champion for the appreciation and understanding of science. He has been based at the University of Sussex since 1967 where he is a Royal Society Research Professor. His pioneering work has uncovered extensive new knowledge about chemical structures. He gained a Nobel Prize in 1996, and was knighted the same year, for his revolutionary and fundamental discoveries in carbon-based materials, notably the C60 molecule Buckminsterfullerene. He is also a tireless broadcaster and communicator of science.

DCL Bill Bryson

• One of the world’s most beloved and bestselling writers
Born in Iowa in 1951, a backpacking expedition brought him to England in 1973 where he met his wife and decided to settle. He wrote for The Times and The Independent for many years, writing travel articles to supplement his income. The Lost Continent, Bill Bryson's hilarious first travel book, chronicles a trip in his mother's Chevy around small town America. Since then, he has written several bestsellers about the UK and the US. His latest book, A Short History of Nearly Everything, takes his ultimate journey-into the most intriguing and consequential questions that science seeks to answer from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization.