BLACKADDER would not have been amused but on Saturday actor Tony Robinson - ala Baldrick - received an honorary degree from Oxford Brookes University.

Mr Robinson, also known as the presenter of the archaeology TV series Time Team, received the honour in ceremonies at the Headington campus on Friday and Saturday, alongside a host of authors, sportsmen and business people. These included Booker Prize-winning author Ian McEwan, who lived in Oxford for many years before moving to London.

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize on three occasions, he won it in 1998 with his novella Amsterdam. His other novels include Atonement, Enduring Love, and Saturday.

Tim Smit, the chief executive and co-founder of the Eden Project, who restored the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall, also gained an honorary degree, with Olympic gold medal-winning rower Steve Williams, who studied at Brookes, and Mike Brearley, the former England cricket captain.

Others who received awards were: Philip Armstrong, managing director of ENF Corporate Governance Advisory Services Ltd; Neil Ashley, member of Oxford Brookes Board of Governors, chairman of Energy Power Resources Ltd, BPO Group Ltd; and Victoria Barnsley, co-founder of publishers HarperCollins.

Recipients of the honorary degrees are nominated by the university's staff and students in recognition of their contribution in a certain field.