JAMU awards Stoppard honorary doctorate

The Janacek Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno (JAMU) has awarded Czech-born British playwright Tom Stoppard an honorary doctorate for his contribution to theatre. In a speech on Friday the drama faculty's dean, Josef Kovalcuk, pointed to five primary reasons Mr Stoppard had been awarded the doctorate, among them the author's refined use of language in his work, and successes such as Arcadia and Rock 'n' Roll. He also pointed to Mr Stoppard's notable support for the dissident movement in communist Czechoslovakia during the so-called "Normalisation" period. Mr Stoppard, present at the ceremony on Friday, suggested that although he had grown up "far away" he was always aware of his family's roots in Moravia.