Oliver Samuel, Linton Kwesi Johnson to receive honorary degrees
Published:Tuesday | August 17, 2021 | 11:02 PM
Comedian and actor Oliver Samuels and dub poet and activist Linton Kwesi Johnson are to receive honorary degrees from the Mona campus of The University of West Indies (UWI) during graduation ceremonies in November.
Olympian Alia Atkinson and philanthropist Gary 'Butch' Hendrickson will also be conferred with honorary degrees.
UWI made the announcement in a release on Monday. It said 14 are to receive honorary degrees at UWI's 2021 graduation ceremonies "for their outstanding contributions to regional and international development".
Both Samuels and Johnson will receive Doctor of Letters degrees, while Atkinson and Hendrickson will receive Doctor of Laws degrees.
Samuels has appeared in 13 pantomimes and more than 30 other productions, including Music Boy, Queenie 's Daughter, Dickance for Fippance, Hail Columbus, The Witch, Johnny Reggae, The Pirate Princess, Trash, and The Dancing Princess. He has also appeared in The Fight Against Slavery, the British Broadcasting Corporation's television series aired in 1974. The television series Oliver, Oliver at Large and Large and in Charge cemented Samuels' role as Jamaica's king of comedy. He was conferred with the Order of Distinction in the rank of Officer Class in 1978. Last year, he was upgraded to the rank of Commander Class.
Johnson was the recipient of the Silver Musgrave Medal from the Institute of Jamaica for "eminence in the field of poetry", and in 2014 the Jamaican Government awarded him the Order of Distinction, Commander Class, for his achievements in poetry and popular music. In 2013, he received a Golden PEN award from English PEN and the PEN Pinter Prize in 2020. Johnson was awarded with an honorary doctorate degree in literature from Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, in 2017.
More than 450 honorary degrees have been conferred by UWI since 1965. Graduations for the regional university are expected to be again held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.