IPSWICH Town chief executive Simon Clegg is among eight notable individuals to be given an honorary award by University Campus Suffolk.

He joins June Brown who plays chain-smoking Eastenders gossip Dot Cotton; New Covent Garden Soup entrepreneur William Kendall; and ballet dancer Gary Avis in being given an honorary doctorate.

Evening Star editor Nigel Pickover; his East Anglian Daily Times counterpart Terry Hunt; Celia Anderson, who led the skills for energy programme at the Department of Energy and Climate Change; and Dr Akmal Makhdum, deputy medical director at Suffolk Mental Health Partnership Trust have been awarded honorary fellowships.

The awards to the eight will be part of the university’s formal graduation ceremonies, which will take place across Suffolk and Great Yarmouth.