BESTSELLING author Iain Banks has been awarded an honorary doctorate by Middlesex University.
Mr Banks, author of 12 novels, received the doctorate at the university's School of Arts and Education at a ceremony on Friday evening.
Born in Fife, Scotland, Mr Banks studied at the University of Stirling in the 1970s.
He said of his time there: “It was a simpler age, a time when a student loan meant someone sidling up to you in the student bar and saying ‘loan us a tenner ‘til Tuesday'.
“Part of what universities do is keep society honest, that is to regard education as valuable in and of itself.”
Mr Banks added that he was “honoured” to receive the doctorate.
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