A children's author, a comedian, an award-winning journalist, and a Rastafarian poet, are set to receive honorary degrees from Oxford Brookes University.

Whitbread prize winning novelist Philip Pullman, who lives in Oxford, author and actor Stephen Fry, former BBC reporter Kate Adie, and poet Benjamin Zephaniah are among 11 people who will be awarded degrees by the Headington-based university in Sept- ember.

Degrees also go to environmentalist and former diplomat Sir Crispin Tickell, the BBC's head of drama Ruth Caleb, French academic Prof Jean Claude-Sergeant, the director of Maison Francaise d'Oxford, computer scientist Prof Wendy Hall; architect and cartoonist Francis Mackay; and Internet consultant Ajaz Ahmed. Honorary fellowships will be awarded to three members of staff at the university -- education consultant John Coe, Prof Keith Allen, a visiting professor at the university's Joining Technology Research Centre, and architect and environmental engineer Stuart Parker.

A spokesman said: "The university awards honorary degrees to people who have excelled in their field, have performed a service to the university or set an example as a role model.

"The people accepting honorary degrees this year reflect the wide range of subjects taught at Oxford Brookes University, as well as being well respected national figures."