TV historians Schama and du Sautoy pick up degrees at Queen Mary’s

The TV historian Simon Schama has been given an honorary fellowship by the London University’s Queen Mary College.

He joined fellow TV presenter Marcus du Sautoy and best-selling author Sarah Waters at the Winter Graduations in the newly-restored Great Hall at the Mile End campus, along with 1,100 students.

Schama, whose BBC documentaries include ‘A History of Britain’ and ‘Simon Schama’s Shakespeare’, received a History fellowship.

He is already Professor of History at Columbia and contributing editor to The Financial Times who previously held posts at Cambridge, Oxford and Harvard.

TV and radio presenter, author and newspaper columnist Marcus du Sautoy was named Honorary Doctor of Science. Prof du Sautoy has lectured at Queen Mary’s several times.

“Queen Mary’s was the springboard for my career as a grown-up mathematician,” he said. “My first year as a post-graduate was spent in the stimulating environment of the mathematics department.”

Novelist Sarah Waters, a former Queen Mary postgraduate student herself, received an Honorary fellowship from its School of English & Drama.

“I have happy memories of my time here,” she recalled. “It was very much the starting-point of my career as a novelist.”

Her books are largely set in the Victorian era and feature lesbian protagonists.