Honorary doctorate for TV's Frost

The veteran broadcaster Sir David Frost has been awarded an honorary degree by the University of Kent.

Sir David, who grew up in the county, was awarded the doctorate at a ceremony at Rochester Cathedral on Wednesday.

He began his broadcasting career in the 1960s with the popular satirical TV comedy That Was The Week That Was.

Sir David, 69, went on to become a successful news interviewer, with his post-Watergate Richard Nixon interviews achieving record viewing figures.

Sir David, who was born in Tenterden and went to grammar school in Gillingham, has previously described the interviews as the highlight of his career.

The 1977 interviews with the disgraced US President inspired Frost/Nixon, a stage play written by Peter Morgan.

It has been made into film that recently premiered at the London Film Festival and will be released in the UK next year.

Sir David returned from New York City, where the film's US premiere was held at the weekend, to attend the university awards ceremony.

Family memories

He said that after spending seven years living in Medway, it was "always nice" to come back.

Remembering how his father was a Methodist minister in Medway, Sir David added: "He used to always try and put up posters outside the church in order to try and attract people on the following Sunday.

"I remembered for instance one September, when he put up a poster that said: 'Come to church next Sunday and avoid the Christmas rush'.

"He did a great job there and organised a building of a new church in Rainham and he loved his time there."

Adding that he went back to the town to look for the church as part of a programme about his life to find the building had become a Sikh temple, Sir David said: "Times move on."

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University of Kent
Frost/Nixon
London Film Festival
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