Honorary degrees awarded at Encaenia

Eight leading figures from the worlds of science, the arts, politics and the law, including 'fifth Beatle' George Martin and the President of Italy, were honoured at Encaenia on 29 June 2011. Encaenia is the ceremony at which the University of Oxford awards honorary degrees to distinguished men and women and commemorates its benefactors. It is held every summer in the Sheldonian Theatre, prwside over by the Chancellor, Lord Patten. Honorands and senior members of the University, dressed in academic robes, always take part in a procession to the theatre, where they are greeted with a trumpet fanfare. This year, Christ Church cathedral choir sung in the ceremony, including a rendition of Yesterday in tribute to Sir George Martin. The University's Public Orator, Richard Jenkyns, and Professor of Poetry, Sir Geoffrey Hill, delivered the Creweian Oration. This year's honorands are: Professor Elizabeth Helen Blackburn , molecular biologist and Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine (2009), who discovered telomerase, an enzyme critical to the reproductive process of gene cells. Degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa Justice Edwin Cameron, a Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, a prominent human rights lawyer during apartheid and on issues around HIV, and the first senior South African official to state publicly that he was living with HIV. Degree of Doctor of Civil Law, honoris causa Professor Sir Geoffrey Ernest Richard Lloyd