I don’t often talk about my day job on here, but one of the things universities like to do is award honorary degrees to various celebrities, sportspeople and community champions, alongside our regular graduates. And on Wednesday this week, I had the honour of being a VIP guest at one of our graduation ceremonies where we awarded Rosie Jones with an Honorary Doctorate of the University (HonDUniv).
The photo above, taken after the ceremony, is of me, my colleagues Dr Jo Buckberry and Dr Emma Brown, and Rosie. I’m one of the co-chairs of the LGBTQ+ staff network at work, whilst Jo co-chairs the Disabled staff network and Emma co-chairs the Neurodivergent staff network. We all co-signed Rosie’s nomination for an honorary degree, alongside the chair of the Women’s staff network, way back in 2024, so it’s taken a while to become a reality. But I also think it speaks volumes that four staff networks all jointly nominated Rosie for the award.
Polymath
Rosie is something of a polymath. She’s probably best known as a stand-up comedian, and appeared on Series 18 of Taskmaster, but she’s also a writer, podcaster, actress, and more recently started The Rosie Jones Foundation, which supports people who, like Rosie, have cerebral palsy. It’s a testament to Rosie’s strength and resilience that she has achieved so much, and I feel she’s a great role model for people with visible disabilities like cerebral palsy.
Her speech at the graduation ceremony was great; I often volunteer at the ceremonies and I don’t think we’ve had an honorary graduate drop an f-bomb like she did. To be fair, for those used to Rosie’s comedy, I would have been disappointed if she hadn’t swore. Also, we did give an honorary degree to Brian Blessed, but this was in the years before our ceremonies were recorded so I don’t know if he swore.
Her degree was conferred by our chancellor, Anita Rani, who is also known for several things including presenting Countryfile and Woman’s Hour, and as a former Strictly Come Dancing contestant. Her books are both great if you get a chance to read them. On the same day, we also conferred an Honorary Doctor of Health degree to former footballer and pundit Chris Kamara.
It was also great to chat to Rosie’s parents; Rosie hails from Bridlington, where my paternal grandparents lived for many years. I used to visit there a lot when I was younger. Rosie herself is absolutely lovely.
They say to never meet your heroes, but Rosie is one of mine and she’s fab. We need more disabled, queer, northern women in public life and Rosie is a trailblazer in this regard.
That’s an excellent photo.