Corrie's Liz Dawn awarded honorary degree

Former Coronation Street star Liz Dawn has been awarded an honorary fellowship from the University of Central Lancashire.

The actress, who played Vera Duckworth in the ITV soap, accepted her degree alongside hundreds of other students on the last day of summer graduations at the Preston-based institution.

"I've left the cobbles and the stone cladding and where have I ended up? I've done okay. It's been fabulous because I didn't know what to expect. It's such a big honour," she said.

"It's a big day for the students, that is the main thing. That is what it's all about, young people doing well and I'm here, enjoying watching. I wasn't very clever, but look at me now. What would Jack Duckworth think?"

Other notable figures who received honorary fellowships from the university were BBC director-general Mark Thompson and Terry Mansfield, the director of media company Hearst Corporation.

Dawn departed the Weatherfield soap in January 2008 for health reasons and earlier this year, claimed that leaving the programme had "saved my life".