Honorary Graduates
Each year, following careful consideration, the University recognises the outstanding achievements of a number of distinguished individuals in a field or activity consonant with the mission of the University, with the award of an honorary degree.
Those recognised will receive their degrees during our graduation ceremonies.
July 2022 Honorary Graduates will be announced here shortly.
2020s
Doctor of Letters
- 2022 Richard Armitage
- 2022 Louise Doughty
- 2022 Constance Ejuma
- 2022 Robert Harris
- 2022 Professor Diane Reay
Doctor of Laws
- 2020 Gulnar Francis-Dehqani
- 2020 Baroness Sandip Verma
- 2020 Bob Woods
- 2022 Wasim Khan
- 2022 Ian Mattioli MBE
- 2022 Jimmy Mayer
- 2022 Bridget Towle
Doctor of Science
- 2021 David Baker
- 2021 Professor Margaret Kivelson
- 2022 Professor Sebsebe Demissew
2010s
Doctor of Letters
- 2010 Ken Ford
- 2010 Michael Parkin
- 2010 Peter Wilby
- 2011 Michael David Wood
- 2011 The Most Reverend Dr Desmond Tutu
- 2012 Rex Bloomstein
- 2012 Margaret Lovell
- 2012 Philip Dodd
- 2012 Michael Shattock, OBE
- 2013 Eric Dunning
- 2013 Dame Olwen Hufton, FBA
- 2013 Almuth Tebbenhoff (text of oration)
- 2013 Sir Peter Scott
- 2013 Peter Welton
- 2013 Stephen Ball, FBA
- 2014 Rosemary Deem, OBE
- 2014 Michael Antony Aston (posthumous award)
- 2014 Jan Wilkinson
- 2015 John Simpson, OBE (text of oration)
- 2015 Greg Hicks (text of oration)
- 2016 Edward Rolland McLachlan
- 2016 Lars Broholm Tharp
- 2017 Jean (Binta) Breeze, MBE
- 2017 Anne Fine, OBE
- 2017 Gordon Roy Campbell, FBA
- 2018 Nina Stibbe
- 2018 Jonathan Philip Agnew, MBE, DL
- 2018 Fiona Stafford
- 2018 Sandra Birgitte (Sandi) Toksvig, OBE
- 2019 David Adetayo Olusoga, OBE
Doctor of Science
- 2010 Jonathan Castleman
- 2011 Ray Fairbend
- 2011 Michael Wilford, CBE
- 2012 Nigel Henbest
- 2012 Sir Mark Walport
- 2013 Sir John Edward Tooke
- 2013 M Qasim Jan
- 2014 David Phillips, CBE
- 2014 Jennifer Clack, FRS
- 2014 Richard Fortey, FRS
- 2014 Dame Sally Claire Davies, DBE
- 2014 Nilesh Jayantilal Samani
- 2015 Douglas Thomas Fearon, FRS
- 2015 Keith Mortimer Waddell, CBE
- 2015 Alfred Rodney Adams, FRS
- 2015 Robert Joyce
- 2016 Dame Ann Patricia Dowling, DBE
- 2016 Sir Godfrey Henry Oliver Palmer
- 2016 John Henry Sandford-Smith
- 2016 Timothy Nigel Peake, CMG
- 2017 Harry Eugene Stanley
- 2018 Margaret Ebunoluwa Aderin-Pocock, MBE
- 2018 Sir John Stewart Savill, FRS
Doctor of Laws
- 2010 William Stephen Goulden Bach, the Lord Bach of Lutterworth
- 2010 Hazel Osborne Byford, the Baroness Byford of Rothley, DBE
- 2010 Hilary Devey
- 2010 John Holloway, OBE
- 2010 Martin Osborne Johnson, CBE
- 2010 John Brian Sinnott
- 2010 Peter Williams, CBE
- 2010 Sir Michael Terence (Terry) Wogan, KBE
- 2011 The Rt Hon. Bruce Joseph Grocott, the Lord Grocott of Telford (text of oration)
- 2011 Katherine Elizabeth Williams
- 2011 Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton
- 2012 Joan Maureen Baxter, MBE
- 2012 Sir David Samworth
- 2012 John Florance
- 2012 Dame Janet Paraskeva, DBE
- 2012 Julie Etchingham
- 2012 Frances Patterson, QC
- 2012 Lord Justice Goldring
- 2013 Diana Garnham
- 2013 Danielle Brown
- 2014 Roger Bettles
- 2014 Laurence Howard, OBE
- 2014 Jonathan Peter Culshaw
- 2014 Richard Brucciani, OBE, DL
- 2014 Vijay Sharma
- 2014 Paul Bateman
- 2014 HH Judge Howard Morrison, CBE
- 2014 Aaron Ross Porter
- 2014 Rob Ward
- 2015 Atifeti Jahjaga
- 2015 Micheal Batty, FRS
- 2015 Anita Linsell
- 2015 Jane Esuantsiwa Goldsmith
- 2015 Jyrki Tapani Katainen
- 2015 Sir Robert Burgess, DL
- 2016 Mohammad Shahid Raza
- 2016 Michael John Smith
- 2016 Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha
- 2016 Anthony Allcock, MBE
- 2016 Graham John Beale, CBE
- 2016 The Very Revd David Robert Malvern Monteith
- 2016 Sarah Dilys Outen, MBE
- 2016 Christopher Nicholas Parsons, CBE
- 2016 The Rt Hon. David Linsay Willetts, the Lord Willetts of Havant
- 2017 Charles St Hill Bishop
- 2017 The Hon Sir Nicholas Nigel Green
- 2017 Surinder Mohan Sharma, DL
- 2018 Andrew John Bailey
- 2018 Patrick Harris
- 2018 Peter William Gregory Tom, CBE
- 2018 Dorothy Elaine Francis, MBE
- 2019 Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, Hon. GCMG
- 2019 Susan Valerie Whelan
Doctor of Music
- 2011 Jon Lord
- 2013 Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy
- 2013 Nicola Benedetti, MBE
- 2015 Alison Louise Balsom
Master of Laws
- 2011 Carole Blackburn
- 2011 Alan Birchenall
- 2011 Harvey Watson
2000s
Doctor of Letters
- 2000 Brian Simon
- 2000 Susan Campbell, MBE
- 2000 Reginald Carr
- 2000 Anthony Giddens
- 2001 Richard Pearson
- 2001 John Edward (Jack) Spence
- 2002 Maurice Beresford
- 2002 Helaine Blumenfeld
- 2002 Lynne Brindley
- 2002 Stephen Arthur Frears
- 2002 Chris d’Lacey
- 2002 Sir Howard Newby, CBE
- 2002 Timothy Peter Piggott-Smith
- 2003 Margaret Gelling, OBE
- 2003 The Rt Rev Timothy John Stevens
- 2003 Anthony Howard, CBE
- 2003 Peter Preston
- 2003 Patricia Ann Hodge
- 2003 Siobhan Davies, CBE
- 2003 Sir Martin Harris, CBE
- 2003 John Matthews, FRHistS, FSA, FBA
- 2004 Riccardo Nencini
- 2004 Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah
- 2004 Eileen Baker
- 2004 Rev James McEvoy
- 2004 Bernard Ashley
- 2004 Rosemary Cramp
- 2004 Sir William Taylor, CBE
- 2004 Sir Martin Gilbert
- 2005 Richard Deacon, CBE
- 2005 Bryan Magee
- 2005 Anna Pavord
- 2005 Vikram Seth, CBE
- 2005 Sir Donald Sinden, CBE
- 2006 Patricia Barker, CBE
- 2006 David Campton
- 2006 Richard Holmes, CBE
- 2006 Norman Rosenthal
- 2006 Laurence John (Laurie) Taylor
- 2006 Sir Michael John Tomlinson, CBE
- 2006 Marina Sarah Warner, FBA
- 2007 David Graham Blanchflower
- 2007 Deirdre Hubbard, FRBS
- 2007 Parminder Kaur Nagra
- 2007 Sir Sigmund Sternberg
- 2007 Edward Conrad (Ted) Wragg (posthumous award)
- 2008 William McGuire (Bill) Bryson
- 2008 John Carter
- 2008 Rigby Graham
- 2008 Archbishop Vincent Gerard Nichols
- 2009 Michael Attenborough
- 2009 David Weston
Doctor of Science
- 2000 Mario Illien
- 2000 Gautam Bodiwala, CBE
- 2000 Thomas Fulton Wilson McKillop
- 2000 Dame Bridget Ogilvie
- 2001 Susan Greenfield, CBE
- 2001 Bruce Smith, CBE
- 2001 Colin Humphreys FREng
- 2001 John Taylor, OBE, FRS, FEng
- 2001 Sir Liam Donaldson
- 2001 Sir Brian Follett, FRS
- 2002 Peter Briggs
- 2002 Hazel Thornton
- 2002 David Western
- 2002 Dame Julia Higgins, CBE, FRS
- 2002 Peter Atkins
- 2002 David King, FRS
- 2003 June Scobee Rodgers
- 2003 Adam Hart-Davis
- 2003 Sir Paul Nurse, FRS
- 2003 Sir Peter Bell, FRCS
- 2004 David Bradley
- 2004 Sir Alec Jeffreys, FRS
- 2005 Sir Peter Lachmann
- 2005 Sir Peter Mansfield
- 2005 Jane Plant, CBE
- 2005 Kenneth Alwyne Pounds, CBE, FRS
- 2005 Sir David Wallace, CBE
- 2006 Dame Carol Black, DBE (text of oration)
- 2006 Sir John Enderby, FRS
- 2006 Sir George Radda, CBE
- 2006 Martin Taylor, FRS
- 2007 Frances Ashcroft, FRS (text of oration)
- 2007 Sir Charles George, FRCP
- 2008 Antony Chapman
- 2009 Dame Nancy Rothwell, FRS
- 2009 Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell
- 2009 Paul Workman
Doctor of Laws
- 2000 Gerald Bernbaum
- 2000 Jules LaPidus
- 2000 Sir Herman Ouseley
- 2000 Sir John Stevens
- 2001 Sir John Robertson Young, KCMG
- 2001 Hugh Greenwood, OBE
- 2001 Gerald Cinderby
- 2002 Timothy Gerald Martin Brooks
- 2003 Sir Derek Thomas
- 2003 The Hon Lady Brooks
- 2004 Indarjit Singh
- 2004 Rita Patel
- 2004 David William Wilson
- 2005 John Ashworth
- 2005 Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, OBE
- 2005 Mark Haysom
- 2005 The Very Reverend Derek Hole
- 2005 Yasmin Jetha
- 2005 Margaret Nkrumah
- 2005 Dame Stephanie Shirley, DBE
- 2006 The Rt Hon. The Baroness Amos
- 2006 John Bloor, OBE
- 2006 Alan Race
- 2007 Sir Michael Bishop, CBE
- 2007 Damon Buffini
- 2007 Dame Hazel Genn, CBE
- 2007 Linda Jones, CBE
- 2007 Keith John Julian
- 2007 Dame Suzi Leather, MBE
- 2007 Angela Sarkis, CBE
- 2008 Nicholas Corah, OBE
- 2008 John Foster, OBE
- 2008 Tarique Ghaffur, CBE, QPM
- 2008 Philip Hammersley, CBE
- 2008 Freda Hussain, MBE
- 2008 Lord Janner of Braunstone, QC
- 2008 Manjula Sood (text of oration)
- 2009 George William Bolsover
- 2009 Guy Canivet
- 2009 Richard Everard
- 2009 Sir Arthur James Rose
- 2009 Wendi Stevens
- 2009 Adrian Robert Weston
Doctor of Music
- 2000 Dame Felicity Lott
- 2002 Tasmin Little
- 2003 Andrew Constantine
- 2003 Dame Gillian Weir, DBE
- 2004 Peter Donohoe
- 2004 Jane Glover
- 2005 John Rutter
- 2006 Engelbert Humperdinck (Arnold George Dorsey)
- 2007 Karl Jenkins, OBE
- 2009 Martyn Hill
Master of Arts
- 2001 Jean Humphreys
- 2002 Dean Richards, MBE
- 2004 Charles Palmer, CBE
Master of Laws
- 2001 Elvy Morton
- 2004 Robert Price
- 2004 Bob Collins
1990s
Doctor of Letters
- 1990 Eric Ogilvie, OBE
- 1990 Elaine Feinstein
- 1990 William Weaver
- 1990 Sir David Wilson, FBA
- 1991 Zdenek Stribrny
- 1992 Janet Suzman
- 1992 Max MacDonald Hastings
- 1992 Bronislaw Geremek
- 1992 Marilyn Spiers Butler
- 1993 Clare Hollingworth, OBE
- 1993 Frank Horace Hahn
- 1993 David John Murray Wright
- 1994 Donald English
- 1995 Albert Halsey
- 1995 Herman Frans Anna Van Der Wee
- 1995 Sir Angus Duncan Aeneas Stirling
- 1996 Sir Keith Vivian Thomas
- 1996 Christopher Hibbert
- 1996 John Edward Christopher Hill
- 1997 Sue Cook (Susan Lorraine Cook)
- 1997 Michael Saunders Watson, CBE
- 1997 Robert Neil MacGregor
- 1998 Amartya Sen
- 1998 John Sutherland
- 1999 Barry Supple, FBA
- 1999 Dame Gillian Beer
- 1999 Sir Anthony Wrigley
Doctor of Science
- 1990 Federico Mayor
- 1990 Ernest Ronald Oxburgh, FRS
- 1990 Roald Sagdeev
- 1991 Sir David John Weatherall
- 1991 Sir Michael Francis Atiyah, FRS
- 1992 Sir John Ivan George Cadogan, FRS
- 1992 Harry Smith, FRS
- 1993 Anne Laura MacLaren, DBE, FRS
- 1993 Sir Martin John Rees, FRS
- 1993 Malcolm John Frazer
- 1994 Sir Robert Kilpatrick, CBE
- 1994 Charles Wayne Rees, FRS
- 1995 Sir Neil Cossons, OBE
- 1995 Stephen Jay Gould
- 1995 Peter Michael Williams, CBE
- 1995 Raoul Bott
- 1995 Jeremy Bray
- 1995 The Rev John Polkinghorne
- 1996 Lewis Wolpert
- 1996 Patrick Caldwell Moore, CBE
- 1996 Sir Michael Richard Bond
- 1997 Raymond Baker
- 1997 Heather Anita Couper
- 1997 Jeff Hoffman
- 1997 Sir Dai Rees
- 1998 Dame Margaret Warwick, DBE
- 1998 David Hempleman-Adams, OBE
- 1998 Sir Donald Irvine
- 1998 Håkan Mogren
- 1998 Sir Harold Kroto, FRS
- 1999 Philip Campbell
- 1999 Sir Keith Peters
- 1999 Frederick Leckie
- 1999 Sir Richard Brook Sykes
Doctor of Laws
- 1990 The Rt Hon Lord Donoughue of Ashton
- 1991 The Rt Rev William John Westwood
- 1991 The Rt Hon the Lord St John of Fawsley, PC
- 1991 Baroness Turner of Camden (Muriel Winifred Turner)
- 1991 Robert Badinter
- 1991 Sir Edwin Ronald Nixon
- 1992 Anthony O'Reilly
- 1992 Frank Ephraim May
- 1993 Betty Boothroyd
- 1993 Michael Aubrey Chamberlain
- 1994 Lady Penelope Mary Braye
- 1994 Peter Ellwood
- 1994 David Arthur Walmsley
- 1994 Mario Alberto Nobre Lopes Soares
- 1994 Catherine Trautmann
- 1994 Stephen Tumim
- 1995 Sir Roy Harding, CBE
- 1995 The Rt Rev. Leo McCartie
- 1995 The Rt Rev. Thomas Frederick Butler
- 1995 Sir Robert Yewdall Jennings
- 1996 Lord MacKay of Clashfern
- 1996 Tan Sri Dato' Seri Jeffrey Cheah
- 1996 William Alsop
- 1996 Laxmi Mall Singhvi
- 1997 Carol Galley
- 1997 Dame Rosalyn Higgins, DBE
- 1997 The Rt Hon Sir Stephen Brown
- 1997 Patrick Coldstream, CBE
- 1997 Sir Richard George
- 1998 Sir John Lowther, CBE, JP
- 1998 Martin Gaskell
- 1998 Helena Ann Kennedy, Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws
- 1998 David Jones
- 1998 Justice A M Ahmadi
- 1998 Wendy Elizabeth Hickling
- 1999 The Honorable Raymond Seitz
- 1999 Kenneth John Richard Edwards
Doctor of Music
- 1993 Jeffrey Philip Tate, CBE
- 1997 Evelyn Glennie, OBE
- 1998 The Lindsays
Master of Arts
- 1990 William Henry Hare, MBE
- 1991 Susan Lillian Townsend
- 1992 Gary Winston Lineker, OBE
- 1992 Terence Garfield
- 1994 Nigel Barnard Hawthorne, CBE
- 1995 Charlotte Mary Stott, OBE
- 1995 Michael Thomas Nicholson, OBE
- 1995 Josette Simon
- 1996 Norman Colin Dexter
- 1996 Derek Robert Nimmo
- 1996 James William Anscomb
- 1997 Jack Birkenshaw
- 1999 Rachel Sullivan
Master of Science
- 1999 Tim Appleton
Master of Laws
- 1996 Sara Elkes
- 1996 The Rev Margaret Jane Morris
- 1997 Anita Tasker, OBE
- 1999 Christopher Moon, MBE
1980s
Doctor of Letters
- 1981 Jonathan Wolfe Miller
- 1981 Stanley John Sadie
- 1981 Alan Arthur Walters
- 1982 Mark Girouard
- 1982 Jean Iris Murdoch (Mrs J O Bayley, CBE)
- 1982 Margaret Mary Gowing
- 1983 Sheppard Sunderland Frere, CBE, FBA, FSA
- 1983 Sir Lawrence Burnett Gowing, CBE
- 1984 Lord Bullock, FBA
- 1985 Harold Bryan Organ
- 1985 Sir William Arthur Shapland
- 1985 Irene Joan Thirsk, FBA
- 1986 Kenneth Ellison Horne
- 1986 Malcolm Stanley Bradbury
- 1986 Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie
- 1986 David Terence Puttnam, CBE
- 1988 Herbert Richard Hoggart
- 1989 Francois Crouzet, OBE
Doctor of Science
- 1980 Sir Douglas Andrew Kilgour Black
- 1980 Kenneth Fowler Wood
- 1980 Dame Alice Josephine Mary Taylor Barnes, DBE
- 1980 Sir Nicholas John Walton
- 1981 Sir William John Granville Beynon, CBE
- 1982 Sir Edward Anthony John Alment
- 1982 Silvio Weidmann, FRS
- 1982 Stephen William Hawking, FRS
- 1983 Sydney Brenner, FRS, FRSE
- 1984 Sir George Malcolm Brown, FRS, FRSE
- 1984 Sir Edward Walter Parkes
- 1985 Raymond Hide, FRS
- 1985 Sir Raymond Hoffenberg, PRCP
- 1985 Robert Joseph Paton Williams, FRS
- 1986 Sir John Henry Harvey-Jones, MBE
- 1987 Eric Albert Ash, CBE, FRS
- 1987 The Hon Miriam Louisa Rothschild, CBE, FRS
- 1988 Norman Curtis
- 1988 Jack Lewis, FRS, FRSC
- 1989 Franklyn Perring
- 1989 Hugh Huxley, MBE, FRS
- 1989 Sir Alexander Turnbull, CBE
- 1989 Montague Goldberg
Doctor of Laws
- 1980 Sir Patrick Dalmahoy Nairne, KCB, MC
- 1980 Rene David
- 1980 Sir Sydney Percy King, OBE
- 1982 David Bethell
- 1982 Christian, Lady Hesketh, OBE
- 1982 Charles Randolph Quirk, CBE
- 1982 Sir Henry Albert Skinner
- 1983 Dame Cicely Mary Strode Saunders, DBE
- 1983 Kenneth William Bowder, OBE
- 1984 John Patrick Lowry, CBE
- 1984 Col Robert Andrew St George Martin, OBE
- 1984 The Hon Sir Jean-Pierre Frank Eugene Warner, QC
- 1985 Sydney Kentridge
- 1986 The Rev Gordon Reginald Dunstan
- 1986 Sir Alexander Johnston, GCB, KBE
- 1987 Maurice Shock
- 1987 Robert Ribblesdale Thornton, CBE
- 1988 Lord Sieff of Brimpton, OBE
- 1989 Ward Jack Timken
- 1989 Helen Scott, OBE
Doctor of Music
- 1982 William Alwyn, CBE
- 1984 Malcolm Henry Arnold, CBE
Master of Arts
- 1981 Christopher Adolph, MBE
- 1982 Michael Turner
- 1982 James Lloyd Carr
- 1982 Derrick William Dunn
- 1984 Dora Phylis Oxenham, (Mrs D R Harper, CBE)
- 1984 Margaret Harrison
- 1985 Brenda Bruce, OBE
- 1985 Peter John Wheeler, MBE
- 1986 Denys James Watkins-Pitchford
- 1987 Leslie Cooper Skelton
- 1988 Joan Hickson, OBE
- 1988 Herald Goddard
- 1988 Joan Goddard
- 1988 Neville Stack
Master of Science
- 1982 Molly Badham, MBE
- 1986 Geoffrey Perry, MBE
- 1987 William Coates, MBE
Master of Music
- 1983 Ian William Edward Imlay
Master of Laws
- 1982 Harold Gibson
- 1982 Leslie Milliard
1970s
Doctor of Letters
- 1970 Philip Arthur Larkin
- 1970 Thomas Humphrey Marshall, CMG
- 1970 Ellis Kirkham Waterhouse, CBE, FBA
- 1970 David Frederick Attenborough
- 1970 Richard Samuel Attenborough, CBE
- 1971 Eric Birley, MBE, FBA
- 1971 Edward John Mostyn Bowlby
- 1971 Henry Spencer Moore, OM, CH
- 1971 Maurice Herbert Dobb
- 1972 Moses Finley
- 1973 Marcus Felix Brundenell Fitch
- 1973 Marie Jahoda
- 1973 Lionel Trilling
- 1974 Basil Bernstein
- 1974 Kathleen Jessie Raine
- 1974 Arnold Roger Manvell
- 1974 Sir (James William) Francis Hill, CBE
- 1975 Carlo Dionisotti-Casalone, FBA
- 1975 Sir Harry Garner, KBE, CBE
- 1975 Doris May Lessing
- 1976 Dorothy Mary Emmett
- 1976 Anthony Dymoke Powell
- 1976 Sylvere Monod
- 1976 Charles Ray Richeson
- 1977 Sir Peter Hall, CBE
- 1977 Angus Frank Johnstone Wilson, CBE
- 1978 Astrid Lindgren
- 1978 Arthur Geoffrey Dickens, CMG, FBA
- 1979 John Innes Mackintosh Stewart
Doctor of Science
- 1970 Sir George Edward Raven Deacon, CBE, FRS, FRSE
- 1972 Eleanor Margaret Burbidge, FRS
- 1970 Sir Henry Frank Harding Jones, KBE
- 1971 Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, KBE, OM, FRS
- 1971 Cyril Astley Clarke, CBE, FRS
- 1972 Sir George Porter, FRS
- 1972 Sir Percy Edward Kent, FRS
- 1972 Richard E Reason, FRS
- 1972 Sir Kingley Charles Dunham, OBE, FRS
- 1972 Sir Vivian Fuchs
- 1972 Kenneth Mellanby, CBE
- 1973 Sir Brian Flowers, FRS
- 1973 Wilhelmina Iwanowska
- 1973 Sir Andrew Kay
- 1974 David Chilton Philips, FRS
- 1974 Nikolaas Tinbergen, FRS
- 1975 Rudolf Ludwig Mossbauer
- 1976 Antony Hewish, FRS
- 1977 Sir Frederick Stewart, FRS
- 1978 Sir Rex Richards, FRS
- 1978 Nicholas Saul Mair
- 1979 Arthur Hafford Cooke, MBE
- 1979 Sir Hans Leo Kornberg, FRS
Doctor of Laws
- 1970 Edward Moss Hutchinson
- 1971 Mac Goldsmith
- 1972 Elfed Thomas
- 1973 Harold Bernard Martin
- 1973 Sir Otto Kahn-Freund, FBA
- 1975 Sir Kenneth Berrill, KCB
- 1975 Jacob Festus Ade Ajayi
- 1976 The Rt Rev Ronald Ralph Williams
- 1976 Nigel David Walker
- 1976 Sir Fraser Noble, MBE
- 1977 Sir Mark Henig
- 1978 The Rt Hon Sir Roger Ormrod, PC
- 1979 Frederick Alfred Thorpe, OBE
- 1979 The Rev Prebendary Edward Chad Varah, OBE
Doctor of Music
- 1970 Beryl Grey (Mrs S G Svenson, CBE)
- 1972 Paul Tortelier
- 1974 Janet Abbott Baker (Mrs J K Shelley, CBE)
- 1977 Sir David Willcocks, CBE
- 1978 Alfred Deller, OBE
Master of Arts
- 1974 Geoffrey Burton
- 1975 John Henry Hopkins
- 1978 John Robin Midgley
Master of Science
- 1977 Jack Otter
- 1979 Ronald Arthur Overton Hickling
Master of Music
- 1975 Kenneth Douglas Page
- 1975 James Walker
1960s
Doctor of Letters
- 1960 John Piper
- 1961 Sir Frank Adcock, OBE, FBA
- 1962 Michael Clive Knowles, OSB, FBA, FSA
- 1963 Sir Basil Spence, OM, RA
- 1964 Dame Peggy Ashcroft, DBE
- 1965 Graham Vivian Sutherland, OM
- 1965 Edmund Charles Blunden, CBE, MC
- 1965 Louis Booker Wright
- 1966 Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, CBE, FBA, FSA
- 1967 Joan Violet Robinson, FBA
- 1968 The Rt Hon The Earl Spencer
- 1968 John Harold Plumb
- 1968 Wilfred Patrick Thesiger, CBE
- 1969 Sir John Richard Hicks, FBA
- 1969 Sir Charles Tennyson, CMG
Doctor of Science
- 1960 The Rt Hon Lord Todd, FRS
- 1960 Sir Frank Whittle, KBE, CB, FRS
- 1961 Sir Bernard Lovell, OBE, FRS
- 1962 Dame Kathleen Lonsdale, DBE, FRS
- 1963 Sir Hans Krebs, FRS
- 1964 Sir Harrie Massey, FRS
- 1965 Sir Michael James Lighthill, FRS
- 1966 William Hayes, FRS
- 1967 Alexander Romanovich Luria
- 1967 Sir Christopher Sydney Cockerell, CBE, FRS
- 1967 Andrew Fielding Huxley, FRS
- 1968 Sir John Baker, OBE, FRS
- 1968 Thomas Archibald Bennet-Clark, CBE, FRS
- 1968 Sir Lindor Brown, CBE, FRS
- 1968 Guido Pontecorvo, FRS, FRSE
- 1968 Frederick Sanger, CBE, FRS
- 1968 Sir Michael Meredith Swann, FRS, FRSE
- 1969 Charles Alfred Coulson, FRS
- 1969 Warner Tjardus Koiter
Doctor of Laws
- 1960 The Rt Hon The Lord Morrison of Lambeth, CH, PC
- 1961 The Rt Hon The Lord Robbins of Clare Market, CB, FBA
- 1961 Sir David Alexander Cecil Low
- 1961 Sir Charles Haynes Wilson
- 1962 The Rt Hon The Lord Bridges, GCB, GCVO, MC, PC, FRS
- 1962 Horace James Oram, OBE
- 1963 Sir Charles Robert Keene, CBE
- 1963 Sir Chintaman Dwarkanath Deshmukh, CIE
- 1964 David Daube, FBA
- 1964 Sir William Arthur Lewis
- 1965 Sir Thomas Percival Creed, KBE, MC, QC
- 1964 The Rt Hon Lord Murray of Newhaven, KCB
- 1965 Sir (John) Leslie Martin
- 1965 Sir Leon Radzinowiez, FBA
- 1966 The Rt Hon Lord Devlin of Westwick, PC, FBA
- 1966 The Rt Hon Lord Robens of Woldingham, PC
- 1967 John Newton Frears, CBE
- 1968 Sir Robert Aitken
- 1968 Lady Plowden
- 1968 John William Gardner
- 1969 Sir Anthony Reay Mackay Geddes, KBE
Doctor of Music
- 1964 Sir John Barbirolli, CH
- 1965 Benjamin Britten, OM, CH
- 1965 Yehudi Menuhin, Hon KBE
- 1966 Dame Alicia Markova, DBE
- 1968 Joan Sutherland, CBE
- 1968 Sir Michael Tippett, OBE
- 1969 Colin Rex Davis, CBE
- 1969 Sir Geraint Llewellyn Evans, CBE
Master of Arts
- 1965 Richard Lester Ager
- 1965 Gerald Benney
- 1965 Norah Waddington
- 1967 Hugh Collinson
- 1967 George Edmund Dearing, MBE
- 1967 Clive Perry
- 1969 Francis Kelly, OBE
- 1969 Edgar Tyler
Master of Science
- 1965 Trevor Alfred Walden
Master of Music
- 1965 George Charles Gray
Master of Laws
- 1967 Sir Robert Mark
1950s
Doctor of Letters
- 1958 Edward Morgan Forster, OM, CH
- 1959 Sir John Newenham Summerson, CBE
- 1959 John Dover Wilson, CH
Doctor of Science
- 1958 The Rt Hon The Lord Adrian, OM, FRS
- 1958 Sir John Cockcroft, KCB, OM, CBE, FRS
- 1959 Sir William Vallance Douglas Hodge, FRS
Doctor of Laws
- 1958 The Rt Hon The Viscount Alanbrooke, KG, GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO
- 1958 Harry Percy Gee, CBE
- 1958 Sir John Francis Lockwood
- 1959 Sir Robert Edmund Martin, CMG
- 1959 Edmund Rubbra, CBE
- 1959 The Rt Hon Lord Snow, CBE
- 1959 Joan Wake, CBE
Distinguished Honorary Fellows
Distinguished Honorary Fellowships are awarded only to persons who have a substantial record of personal service to the University and who already hold an honorary degree of the University. There are a maximum of 24 Distinguished Honorary Fellows at any one time. (* indicates deceased)
- 2005 Frank Ephraim May, MBE
- 2005 Helen Scott, OBE *
- 2006 Sir David Frederick Attenborough, CH
- 2006 Richard Samuel Attenborough, CBE, Lord Attenborough of Richmond upon Thames *
- 2007 Sir Michael Atiyah, OM, FRS, FRSE *
- 2008 Wendy Elizabeth Hickling, OBE *
- 2008 Jean Humphreys *
- 2008 Sir Patrick Moore, Hon FRS *
- 2008 Sue Townsend, FRSL *
- 2009 Michael Chamberlain, OBE
- 2009 John Foster, OBE
- 2009 Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys, CH, FRS
- 2013 Ian Imlay *
- 2013 Kenneth Alwyne Pounds, CBE, FRS
- 2014 Adrian Weston *
- 2015 Roger Bettles
- 2017 Michael John Attenborough, CBE
- 2019 Professor Sir Peter Bell