American Idol creator Simon Fuller and disability campaigner Alison Lapper MBE are to receive top honours from the University of Brighton.
As well as creating American TV’s most successful show, Mr Fuller has managed David Beckham, the Spice Girls, Sir Bradley Wiggins, Andy Murray, Lewis Hamilton, Annie Lennox and many more household names.
He is to receive an honorary Doctor of Letters in recognition of his major contribution to business, entrepreneurship and philanthropy.
Simon, who was born in Hastings and whose grandfather was a headmaster in the town, is due to receive his doctorate on Thursday, 31 July, during the university’s summer graduation awards at the Brighton Dome.
He will be recognised for his business acumen and his associations with charitable initiatives including Greenpeace, Amnesty International, Save The Children, The Prince’s Trust, The United Nations Foundation, UNICEF and Comic Relief. He is also a founding trustee of Malaria No More.
University alumni Alison Lapper will receive an honorary Doctor of Arts (on 28 July) for her major contribution to the arts and as an ambassador for those with disabilities.
Born without arms and with shortened legs, Alison uses photography, digital imaging and painting to question physical normality and beauty.
She is perhaps best known as the subject of Marc Quinn’s statue Alison Lapper Pregnant which stood on the fourth plinth of Trafalgar Square from 2005 to 2007.
She studied at the University of Brighton and graduated with a first class honours degree in Fine Art in 1993. She is a member of the Mouth and Foot Painting Artists of the World.
In 2000, Alison gave birth to her son Parys and both have featured in the ongoing BBC television documentary Child of Our Time. Alison will receive her doctorate on 28 July.
Eight other honorary awards will be presented during the week from 25 July to 1 August to recipients prominent in a range of professions from medicine to films.
Professor Dame Valerie Beral DBE, Professor of Epidemiology and Director of the Cancer Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford, will receive a Doctor of Medicine of the universities of Brighton and Sussex (25 July) in recognition of her major contribution to medicine. She is Principal Investigator for the Million Women Study that investigates the effect of women’s lifestyle on health.
Wolfgang Suschitzky, Get Carter film director of photography, is to receive a Doctor of Arts (July 28) for his contribution to photography and cinematography. He became a leading light in the British documentary film movement during and after the war and he has worked on 200 films since the 1930s. He is also renowned for his photography.
