Judith Olivia Dench

Chancellor,

We honour Dame Judi Dench for her outstanding achievements in theatre, film and television, distinctions for which she rightly continues to receive the highest of international accolades. But here today, in the University of Leeds, we rejoice also in her Yorkshire origins and upbringing.

Dame Judi began her career with our leading companies: the Old Vic, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and the Royal National Theatre. She has also appeared in many commercial productions in the West End; she is a familiar figure in television series and plays; and, as if this were not enough, she has made her mark as a director. The itemisation of her achievements is an impossible task, for they are far too many to list.

The same is true of her achievements in film, where the roll-call for the past six or seven years would be a roll-call of the outstanding films - and outstanding performances - of our time. Her role in Iris can serve as an examplar for them all: for it she has received no fewer than three Best Actress awards: from the Critics Circle, the Variety Club and BAFTA. Yet there are many other performances, sometimes in the lead and sometimes in a supporting role, for which she has received multiple awards in the international arena.

She has been recognised too in ways which transcend particular performances: she became a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1988, and as we ushered in the new millennium she was recognised by the York Millennium Person Award, the Benjamin Franklyn Medal from the Royal Society of Arts and, across the Atlantic, by the Walpole Medal for Excellence. It is no wonder that, in a recent international award ceremony, she was referred to as a 'national treasure' - a phrase which recognises her remarkable distinction, but which also, I think, captures the warm affection in which she is held.

Chancellor, it is in that spirit of commonly shared affection as well as celebration that I have the pleasure to present to you for the degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, Judith Olivia Dench.

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