July 2011 For immediate release

Media opportunity: Monday 18 to Saturday 23 July, Headingley Campus, Metropolitan University

Leeds Met awards honorary degrees

Leeds Metropolitan University is awarding an honorary doctorate you can really sink your teeth into as part of its forthcoming graduation ceremonies.

Alexander Skarsgård, star of the popular vampire television series True Blood and BBC Look North presenter Harry Gration are among those who will receive honorary degrees from Leeds Metropolitan as part of the University¶s summer graduations this month.

The graduation celebrations are taking place at University¶s Headingley Campus from Monday 18 to Saturday 23 July, where over 5,000 students will graduate over six days, alongside nine honorary degree recipients.

Others receiving honorary degrees from Leeds Metropolitan include Dorothy Hyman, Larry Gould, June Kenton, Ikram Butt, Melvin Benn, Mohammed Sabit and Ninian Watt.

Alexander Skarsgård is a Hollywood actor, ex-marine and star of the hugely successful series True Blood and Generation Kill as well as being a Leeds Metropolitan alumnus. He has acted in blockbusters such as Zoolander and stars in two films due to be released later this year including the apocalyptic movie Melancholia, alongside Kirsten Dunst and Keifer Sutherland, and a remake of the 1971 classic Straw Dogs, featuring Kate Bosworth. Before becoming an actor, Alexander studied English at Leeds Metropolitan, renting a basement flat on Otley Road, before moving to a New York theatre school.

Harry Gration was born in Bradford and began his career as a history teacher at Rothwell Primary School. In 1980 he accepted a three month contract as sports editor at BBC Radio Leeds before making his transition into television as a presenter on Look North. Alongside his Look North role, Harry is a regular commentator for BBC¶s Final Score and presents The Superleague Show. In the past he has presented Grandstand and Sportsnight, as well as the rare Match of the Day appearance, and he has reported from five summer Olympic Games, three winter Olympic Games, and numerous World Cups and Commonwealth Games.

Graduations from all four of the University¶s faculties will take place ± The Carnegie Faculty, the Faculty of Business & Law, the Faculty of Arts, Environment & Technology and the Faculty of Health & Social Science.

Ends

The full list of honorary degrees to be awarded by Leeds Metropolitan University:

Monday 18 July 11am ± June Kenton, Hon D Business Administration Monday 18 July 2pm ± Mohammed Sabir, Hon D Business Administration Monday 18 July 5pm ± Ninian Watt, Hon D Business Administration Tuesday 19 July 11am ± Melvin Benn, Hon D Business Administration Wednesday 20 July 2pm ± Harry Gration, Hon D Arts Wednesday 20 July 2pm ± Alexander Skarsgård, Hon D Arts Friday 22 July 2pm ± Dorothy Hyman, Hon D Sports Science Friday 22 July 5pm ± Ikram Butt, Hon D Sports Science Saturday 23 July 11am ± Larry Gould, Hon D Business Administration

y June Kenton is the owner of the lingerie company Rigby and Peller and the Grantee of Royal Warrant as Corsetiere to H.M. Queen Elizabeth II . y Mohammed Sabir is the founder of Aagrah, the country¶s largest and most successful Kashmiri restaurant group. y Ninian Watt is former Chair of the Board of Governors at Leeds Metropolitan University. y Melvin Benn is the CEO of Festival Republic and licensee of Glastonbury. y Dorothy Hyman is a former sprinter and the only British woman to have ever won medals in both the 100m and 200m at the same Olympic Games. She was crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1963. y Ikram Butt is the founder of the British Asian Rugby Association. A professional player , he played for several Yorkshire teams, including and , making history in 1995 when he became the first South Asian player to represent England at either code. y Larry Gould is the Chief Executive Officer of thebigword Group.

To attend any of these honorary ceremonies, or for furthe r details, please contact Carrie Braithwaite in the News & Media team at Leeds Met on 0113 812 3022 or email [email protected]

Notes for editors:

y Leeds Metropolitan University has 30,000 students and 3, 000 staff. y The University has achieved its best ever Research Assessment Exercise results. Sports-Related Studies is in the top 6 institutions in the country with research rated at the highest levels of 4* and 3*. y Leeds Met has been rated the top university in the UK for its language support, accommodation quality and learning spaces in the 2010 Autumn Wave of the International Student Barometer and sixth in the world for the quality of its lectures. y The University¶s award-winning learning environments include Broadcasting Place, voted the best tall building in the world in 2010 by the Chicago-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) and also winner of the 2010 Leeds Architecture Awards New Building category, the iconic Rose Bowl building, awarded Best Commercial Property Development in the 2009 Yorkshire Property Awards and the pioneering Carnegie Village student accommodation. y Leeds Metropolitan is one of only a handful of UK universities to have been awarded the Carbon Trust Standard.