High profile Salford honorary graduates revealed

Paul Abbott

One of the most successful television writers in the UK, an acclaimed singer-songwriter and award-winning journalists and writers are among this year's honorary graduates from the University of Salford.

Paul Abbott will be awarded a doctor of letters in recognition of his outstanding achievements as a BAFTA winning television screenwriter and producer. He started his writing career on Coronation Street in 1983, wrote and produced Jimmy McGovern's Cracker and created Channel 4's Shameless.

Paul is also responsible for the creation of some of the most highly-acclaimed UK television dramas of the 1990s and 2000s, including Reckless, Touching Evil, Linda Green, Clocking Off and State of Play - which was remade as a Hollywood movie starring Russell Crowe in 2008.

A doctor of arts will be awarded to Peggy Seeger, a folk musician from New York who is renowned for her activist song writing. She spent over thirty years in Britain living with her Salford-born husband Ewan MacColl who wroteThe First Time Ever I Saw Your Face for her.

Former Sunday Times editor, Sir Harold Evans, will receive a doctor of letters. Sir Harold was named one of International Press Institute's 50 Heroes of World Press Freedom and in 2004 he was knighted for his services to journalism. He currently lives in New York and is editor-at-large at Reuters.

Writer Alan Garner will receive a doctor of letters for his children's books which are heavily influenced by Cheshire's history and mythology. He received an OBE for services to literature in 2001 and his other accolades include The Guardian Award, the Carnegie Medal and the Phoenix Award.

A doctor of science will be awarded to the defence editor at The Times, Deborah Haynes, who reported from Iraq for two years and has campaigned for the right of Iraqi interpreters to be repatriated to the UK. She won the Amnesty International media award for excellence in human rights reporting, and was the first winner of the Tony Bevins Prize for investigative journalism.

University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Martin Hall, said: "This year's honorary graduates are extremely distinguished and respected members of their professions. They fully deserve the highest honours that the University of Salford can bestow as an institution."

The honorary graduation ceremonies will take place at The Lowry, Salford Quays, 19-22 July.

Full list of honorary graduates:

Paul Abbott, TV writer and producer 
Peggy Seeger, activist and musician
Sir Harold Evans, journalist and writer
Deborah Haynes, journalist 
Alan Garner OBE, novelist and film-writer
Magnus Mowat, Booth Charities
Bill Campbell, Islington Mill studio owner
Warren J Smith, The Lord-Lieutenant of Greater Manchester
Christopher Paul Sheffield OBE, former prison governor

See the University's graduation site at: http://www.graduation.salford.ac.uk/