Arts personalities awarded honours

Jul 24 2008 by Laura Sharpe, Liverpool Daily Post

TWO Liverpudlian greats were recognised for their work in literature and film yesterday.

Dr Brian Jacques, best-selling children’s author and broadcaster, stood on the steps of the Anglican Cathedral alongside world-famous film producer Norma Heyman.

Jacques and Knotty Ash-born Heyman were conferred as honorary fellows of Liverpool’s John Moores University.

Jacques’s honour comes 20 years after he wrote his first novel for the children of the Royal Wavertree School for the Blind.

Inspired after reading to the children, he wrote Redwall, the first in a series of novels which has gained him international status and made him a best-selling author.

Jacques said: “It’s nice to be honoured by my own city. I’m a son of Liverpool and it’s still my home town, I love living here and swimming in Everton every morning.

“I’m happiest when I’m reading to children and I often visit Liverpool schools. I communicate well with kids and I never speak down to them.”

Jacques’s passion for writing sprung at the tender age of 10, when he was branded a liar by his teacher after writing a story about a bird which cleaned a crocodile’s teeth. She believed he had copied it from a book.

At 15, he left school and became a merchant seaman before returning to the city and working in jobs including being a railway fireman,a boxer, a police constable and a stand-up comic.

Jacques also became a popular Radio Merseyside presenter.

A jubilant Heyman, who has produced some of the UK’s most successful films, including Dangerous Liaisons and Mrs Henderson Presents, said she was wonderfully proud of the honour.

She said: “I’m so proud to receive this in my home town. It’s one of my greatest achievements.

“I still have family in Liverpool, but it was very different when I left in the 50s, the city was stil blighted after the war with high unemployment.

"I struggled to get a job with my Liverpool accent so I learnt a different accent, but my old school, Blackburne House, still resonates in everything I do because I had a great English teacher.”

A founder of Women in Film and Television, Heyman has encouraged women into the industry.

Her husband John is also a producer and following in their footsteps, son David is a successful producer best known for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

JMU’s new Chancellor, Queen guitarist and astronomer Dr Brian May, officiated for the first time yesterday as Prof Martin Rees, President of the Royal Astronomical Society, also received an Honorary Fellowship in recognition of his outstanding contribution to astronomy.

Mike Bode, Professor of astrophysics, said: “Martin Rees is one of the most distinguished British astronomers of the modern era. He has a great interest in the wider impact of science and is extremely active in promoting public engagement.

“This love of star-gazing is shared by our Chancellor, Dr Brian May, and it is with great pleasure that we welcome Professor Rees as an Honorary Fellow of the University.”

Andrew Holroyd received the Fellowship in recognition of his long career as a leading Liverpool solicitor serving the inner city communities.

Cherie Booth QC, Emeritus Chancellor, was also present.

laurasharpe