LIPA graduation 460
POP singer Will Young and Liverpool actor Joe McGann were among a host of showbiz stars to be named LIPA companions at the Philharmonic Hall earlier today.
They joined five other entertainment professions to be presented with the accolades by Sir Paul McCartney at the institution’s graduation ceremony.
Around 300 students representing 18 countries graduated in front of an audience that included dancer Wayne Sleep and actor Nickolas Grace.
Young, 30, said the event reminded him of his own graduation from Exeter University, where he studied politics.
He said: “The most popular people got the loudest cheers so my mum decided to cheer for everyone there.
“I’m glad to see that all the students here have a lot of enthusiasm for everyone graduating.”
He joined casting director Pippa Ailion, choreographer Natricia Bernard, artistic director John Fox, set and costume designer Richard Hudson and music producer Tony Platt to be honoured at the Liverpool Institution of Performing Arts’s graduation ceremony.
Sir Paul, who helped found LIPA with its principal Mark Featherstone-Witty, said: “I came up here on a nostalgia trip and saw the old school falling apart and thought I have got to do something to rescue the building.
“We had the idea of giving people spirit and a basic knowledge and then it’s up to them.”
“I just come up here to kiss all the girls – but seriously it’s one of the days of my year.”
