This list of Honorary Graduates of the University of Leeds is a year-by-year list of people recognized by the University of Leeds for their achievements in their given field with an honorary award.
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa (Latin: 'for the sake of the honour') is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived the usual requirements (such as matriculation, residence, study and the passing of examinations). The degree itself is typically a doctorate or, less commonly, a master's degree, and may be awarded to someone who has no prior connection with the academic institution. +KeyDEngDoctor of EngineeringDLittDoctor of LettersDMDoctor of MedicineDMusDoctor of MusicDScDoctor of ScienceLLDDoctor of Laws
2020s 2026 Ed Anderson (LLD) Peter Cheney (DSc) Susan Cheney (DSc) Ellie Kildunne (LLD) Tina Leslie (LLD) Rachel Lord (LLD) Steve Rosenberg (LLD)
2025 Judith Blake (Baroness Blake of Leeds) (LLD) Steph Houghton (LLD) Khadijah Ibrahiim (DLitt) Jack Maitland (LLD)
2024 Peter Buckley (LLD) Alan Langlands (LLD) Kevin Sinfield (LLD) Mark Gatiss (LLD)
2023 Anita Rani (DLitt) Ondrej Krivanek (DSc)
2022 Nina Gualinga (LLD) Mark Tucker (LLD) Brenda Hale (LLD) David Gray (LLD) Eleanor Dodson (DSc) Alison Lowe (LLD) Rachel Skinner (LLD) Gillian Leng (DSc)
No honorary degrees were awarded in 2020 or 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2010s 2019 Peter Dhillon (LLD) Jane Featherstone (DLitt) Richard Henderson (DSc) Lubaina Himid (DLitt) Michael Pepper (DEng) Norman Williams (DSc)
2018 Kenton Cool (LLD) Mary Fowler (DSc) Peter Gibbs (LLD) Gabriele Hegerl (DSc) Alice Roberts (DSc) Jane Rumble (DSc) Clare Marx (DSc) Wendy Burn (DM) Robert Mair, Baron Mair (DEng) Iain Mattaj (DSc) David Olusoga (DLitt) Anne Owers (LLD) Christopher Senyonjo (LLD) Leslie Valiant (DEng)
2017 Malcolm Brown (LLD) Anne Chamberlain (DSc) Grace Clough (LLD) Barry Cryer (DLitt) Karen Darke (LLD) Richard Farnes (DMus) John Hardy (DSc) Colin Low (Baron Low of Dalston) (LLD) Nicola Mendelsohn (LLD) Helen Rappaport (DLitt) Martin Rees (Baron Rees of Ludlow) (DSc) Andrew Shovlin (DEng) Paul Workman (DSc)
2016 Athene Donald (DSc) John Fisher (DEng) Anne-Marie Hutchinson (LLD) Steve Jackson (DSc) Vivien Jones (DLitt) Wayne McGregor (DLitt) Peter Morgan (DLitt) Isobel Pollock-Hulf (DEng) Julia Slingo (DSc) John Stoddart-Scott (LLD) Andrea Sutcliffe (DSc)
2015 Nicola Adams (LLD) Simon Armitage (DLitt) David Baulcombe (DSc) Margaret Jull Costa (DLitt) Ann Dowling (DEng) Arthur France (LLD) Peter Hendy (LLD) Howard Morris (DSc) Michelle Pinggera (LLD) John Tooke (DSc)
2014 Michael Arthur (LLD) John Dyson, Lord Dyson (LLD) Jane Francis (DSc) Andras Schiff (DMus) Patrick Stewart (DLitt)
2013 Alistair Brownlee (LLD) Jonathan Brownlee (LLD) Claire Cashmore (LLD) Stephanie Flanders (DLitt) Samuel Kargbo (DSc) Linda Pollard (LLD) Susan Solomon (DSc) Martin Wainwright (DLitt)
2012 Onora O’Neill (LLD) Eliza Manningham-Buller (LLD) Keir Starmer QC (LLD) Ian Kershaw (DLitt)
2011 David Stuart (DSc) Corinne Bailey Rae (DMus) Jonathan Wild (LLD) Sally Davies (DM) Peter Blake (DMus) Keith Howard (LLD)
2010 Alan Yentob (LLD) José Ángel Gurría (LLD) Elaine Surick Oran (DSc) Ingrid Roscoe (LLD) John Sentamu (LLD) John Simpson (LLD) Lesley Dixon (LLD) Sir Stuart Rose (LLD)
2000s
2009 Sayyid Saud bin Ibrahim Al-Busaidi (LLD) Yahya bin Saud bin Mansoor Al-Sulaimi (LLD) Nicola Brewer (LLD) Malcolm Chaikin (DSc) Bekele Geleta (LLD) Simon Mason (LLD) Sunil Bharti Mittal (LLD) Richard Mantle (DMus) Michael Nyman (DMus) Lord Oxburgh of Liverpool (DSc) Peter Robinson (DLitt)
2008
Mark Byford (LLD) Albert Fert (DSc) Baroness Flather (LLD) David Hessayon (DSc) Sir Christopher Rose (LLD) Martin Scicluna (LLD) Polly Toynbee (LLD)
2007
David Ansbro (LLD) Dame Josephine Barstow (DMus) Steve Bell (DLitt) Dr Sydney Brenner (DM) Arthur Cockcroft (LLD) Anita Desai (DLitt) Ruth Errington (LLD) Al Garthwaite (LLD) Mabel Parris (LLD) Harold Pinter (DLitt) Dr Piers Sellers (DSc) Professor Janet Thornton (DSc) Fiona Wood (DM) Tony Wren (DEng)
2006
Lynne Brindley (DLitt) Gurinder Chadha (DLitt) Sara Courtneidge (DSc) John Elderfield (DLitt) Alexander Markham (DSc) Arthur Stone (LLD)
2005
Bill Bryson (DLitt) Sir David Cox (DSc) Andy Kershaw (DMus) Dame Nancy Rothwell (DSc) Marjorie Ziff (LLD)
2004
Zygmunt Bauman (Emeritus Professor) Maurice Beresford (Emeritus Professor) Jack Charlton (LLD) Duncan Dowson (Emeritus Professor) Tony Harrison (DLitt) Professor Dame Julia Higgins (DSc) Sir Ian McKellen (DLitt) Sir Kenneth Morrison (LLD) Baroness Usha Prashar (LLD) Professor David Rhodes (DEng) Ngugi wa Thiong'o (DLitt) Professor Sir Alan Wilson (LLD)
2003
Anthony Hunt (DEng) Caryl Phillips (DLitt)
2002 Dame Judi Dench (DLitt) Roderic Lyne (LLD) Paul Nurse (DSc)
2001 Dame Betty Boothroyd (LLD) Susan Greenfield (DSc) Seamus Heaney (DLitt) Craig Jordan (DMed)
2000 Melvyn Bragg (DLitt) Alan Bullock (DLitt) Jocelyn Bell Burnell (DSc) David Hockney (Dlitt) Jude Kelly (DLitt) Robert Ogden (LLD) Alan Roberts (LLD)
1990s
1999 Jeremy Paxman (LLD) Murray Perahia (DMus) Jack Straw (LLD) Professor Sir John Ernest Walker (DSc)
1998 No honors conferred in this academic year.
1997
Harold 'Dickie' Bird (LLD) Ben Gill (DSc) Peter Gray (DSc) John Hougham (LLD) Douglas Jefferson (DLitt) Bill Kilgallon (LLD) Gerald Di Piazza (DEng) Derek Roberts (DSc) Nayantara Saghal (DLitt) Richard Sykes (DSc)
1996
James Cronin (DSc) Vigdís Finnbogadóttir (LLD) Ernest Hall (LLD) David Jenkins (DD) Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller (DLitt) Dame Kathleen Raven (LDD) Ismail Zawawi (DEng)
1995
Sir Alan Bowness (DLitt) Stuart Hall (DLitt) Sir John Houghton (DSc) Tom Jackson (LLD) Mark Knopfler (DMus) Professor Sir Hans Leo Kornberg (DSc) Lin Ma (LLD) Jean Muir (DLitt) Manmohan Singh (LLD) Lord Justice Taylor, Baron Taylor of Gosforth (LLD) Chad Varah (LLD)
1994
Emeka Anyaoku (LLD) Margaret Atwood (DLitt) Lydia Dunn, Baroness Dunn (LLD) Sir Sam Edwards (DSc) Professor Sir Gordon Higginson (LLD) Raymond George Hardenbergh Seitz (LLD) Cecil Thompson (MA) Victor Watson (LLD)
1993 Rev (Albert) Kenneth Cragg (DD) Maurice Godet (DEng) Anish Kapoor (DLitt) Dame Anne Laura Dorinthea McLaren (DSc) Sir Simon Denis Rattle (DMus) Edward Thompson (DLitt) Dr. James Walsh (LLD) Arnold Ziff (LLD)
1992
Sir Charles Frank (DSc) Professor Stephen Jay Gould (DSc) Raymond Head (LLD) Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan (LLD) Professor Dan McKenzie (DSc) Cristopher Mowll (LLD) David Terence Puttnam, Baron Puttnam (DLitt) Merlyn Rees, Baron Merlyn-Rees (LLD) Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg (DLitt) Dame Fanny Waterman (DMus)
1991 Denis Healey, Baron Healey (LLD) Rev. Trevor Huddlestone (LLD) Professor Walter Kunzel (DM) Sir Gordon Linacre (LDD) Janusz Onyszkiewicz (DSc) Pat Solk (LLD) Sir Peter Thompson (LLD)
1990 Alan Bennett (DLitt) Barbara Taylor Bradford (DLitt) Lt Cdr. Allan Crockatt (LDD) Ray Cullingworth (MA) Ralph Goodall (DEng) Professor Yves Jeannin (DSc) Sir Gustav Victor Joseph Nossal (DM) Colin Sampson (LLD) Tōru Takemitsu (DMus) Sir Erik Christopher Zeeman (DSc)
1980s
1989 Joseph Dickinson (MSc) Sir Joseph Gilbert (LLD) H Peter Jost (DEng) Professor Heinrich Noth (DSc) Tan Sri Rashdan (LLD) Esther Simpson (LLD) Caspar Weinberger (DM)
1988
Doreen J Bayley (MA) Professor Richard Cobb (DLitt) Geoffrey Hill (DLitt) Susan Cunliffe-Lister, Dowager Countess of Swinton, Baroness Masham of Ilton (LLD) Roy McMurtry (LLD) Patricia Ruanne (DLitt) William P Thackray (LLD) Jean M Tyrrell (LLD) Professor Sir David Weatherall (DM)
1987
Jack Ashley, Baron Ashley of Stoke (LLD) Sir Alan Ayckbourn (DLitt) Sir Lawrence Byford (LLD) Bernard Haitink (DMus) Professor Stephen Hawking (DSc) Professor Jerzy Kroh (DSc) Yves Lesage (LLD) Anthony J Moyes (LLD) Dame Margaret Kate Weston (DSc)
1986
Professor Sir Geoffrey Allen (DSc) Reverend Professor William Owen Chadwick (DLitt) Janusz Fibras (DLitt) David Lloyd-Jones (DMus) Sir David Lean (DLitt) Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile (LLD) – revoked 2012 Noel Stockdale (LLD)
1985
Douglas Gabb (MEng) Emeritus Professor Irene Manton (DSc) Ronald King Murray, Lord Murray (LLD) John Piper (DLitt) Professor Robert Shackleton (DLitt) Douglas Shortridge (LLD) Rev. Gordon Wheeler (DD) Xie Xide (DSc)
1984
Julian Bream (DMus) Professor Brian Leonard Clarkson (DSc) Richard Arthur Dalley (MSc) James Hanson, Baron Hanson (LLD) Sir Paul Leonard Fox (LLD) Sir Stanley George Hooker (DSc) Syed Ali Mohammed Husain Khusro (LLD) Emeritus Professor Owen Lattimore (DLitt) Sir James Lighthill (DSc) Sir Rex Richards (DSc) R. E. Rowe (DEng) Margaret Susan Cheshire, Baroness Ryder of Warsaw and Baroness Cheshire (LLD) Emeritus Professor William Walsh (LLD) James Westoll (LLD)
1983
Imogen Clare Holst (DMus) George Thomas, 1st Viscount Tonypandy of Rhondda (LLD) Robert Stewart Rowe (DLitt) Roy Colin Strong (DLitt)
1982
Stephen Towers Anning (MPhil) Willy Brandt (LLD) Denis Parsons Burkitt Sir Henry Chilver, Baron Chilver (DSc) Jacqueline du Pré (DMus) Derek Ezra, Baron Ezra (LLD) Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone (LLD) Ronald Stanley Illingworth (DSc) Leo Arthur Kaprio (LLD) Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie (DLitt) Sir Rudolph Lyons (LLD)
1981 Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington (LLD) Professor David Donnison (LLD) Sarah Gilchrist (MA) Robert Gittings (DLitt) Jean Philippe Inebnit (MA) Sir Alec Merrison (DSc) Richard Morris (DSc) Norah Smallwood (DLitt)
1980 Dame Janet Abbott Baker (DMus) Reverend Henry Chadwick (DD) John Cedric Goligher (DSc) James MacGregor (LLD) Sir Denis Rooke (DSc) Sir Tom Stoppard (DLitt) Shirley Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby (LLD)
1970s 1979 S.P.S. Andrew (DSc) Sir Robert Bradlaw (DSc) Baron Diamond of Gloucester (LLD) Professor M.E. Howard (DLitt) Dennis Irvine (DSc) Queenie Dorothy Leavis (DLitt) Lord Hunt of Llanvair Waterdine (DLitt) Baroness Seear (LLD) E.J. Read (MA) Sydney Percy Smith (DSc) William Taylor (DLitt) Professor Sir John Walton (DSc)
1978 Reinhard Bendix (DLitt) Richard Wood, Baron Holderness (LLD) Sir John Charnley (DSc) Kristján Eldjárn, President of Iceland (DLitt) Professor Philip Grierson (DLitt) Dr Theodore Morris Sugden (DSc) Clement Charles Tapp (MA) Lord Arnold Weinstock (DLitt) Richard F Wood (DLitt)
1977
Sir Kenneth Lyon Blaxter (DSc) Professor Sheppard Sunderland Frere (DLitt) Arthur Koestler (DLitt) Professor William Norton Medlicott (DLitt) Sir Claus Moser (PhD) Innocentina Tomasini Pearmain (MA) Lord Alexander of Potterhill (DLitt) John Collins Siddons (MSc) Edmund Williamson (LLD)
1976 Claude Thomas Bissell (DLitt) Aaron Copland (DMus) Norma Franklin (DSc) Margaret Gowing (DLitt) Helena Hayward (MA) Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (LLD) Charles Rosen (DMus) Sir Rodney Smith (DSc) Lord Widgery (LLD)
1975 Rupert Cross (LLD) Kenneth Fourness (MSc) Donald Hunt (DMus) Harold Macmillan (DLitt) Rosemary Murray (DSc) Charles Pannell (LLD) David Woodbine Parish (LLD) Stephen Roskill (DLitt) Arnold Smith (LLD) Professor Sir John Stallworthy (DSc) Humphrey Trevelyan (DLitt) Emeritus Professor Ronald Tunbridge (Dsc) Ralph C Yablon (LLD)
1974 Pierre Boulez (DMus) Asa Briggs (DLitt) Richard Crossman (DLitt) Arthur Dower (LLD) Sir Reginald Goodall (DMus) David Hockney (MA) Sir Brynmor Jones (LLD) Alexander MacLennan (MEd) Frederick Sidney Snow (LLD) Andre Varga (LLD)
1973 Kenneth John Bonser (MA) Sir John Francis Boyd (LLD) Arnold Stanley Vincent Burgen (DSc) George Sidney Roberts Kitson Clark (DLitt) Professor Sir Frederick Sidney Dainton (DSc)