Former Clitheroe pupil knighted in the Queen’s Birthday 2020 Honours List

Sir Richard Catlow, professor of Catalytic and Computational Chemistry at Cardiff University and University College London, has been recognised for the development of methods that have become standard across the chemical sciences as well as a career-long commitment to effective leadership at university, national, and global levels.

Born in Simonstone, Sir Richard has worked in the field of computational and experimental studies of complex inorganic materials for more than 40 years. He has been associated with University College London since 1976.

Alongside his academic contributions, Sir Richard was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2004, where he currently holds the role of Foreign Secretary.

On receiving his Knighthood, he said: "I am naturally very pleased to have been awarded this honour, both personally and for the recognition with it gives to the key role of science and research."

He added: "My link to Clitheroe goes back to my young days when my family lived in the town and I attended the Grammar School until I left for university in 1966. I remember both the town and the school with great affection and there may well be people in Clitheroe who remember me.

"My family moved to Clitheroe in 1958 and lived on Church Street until the late 1970s when they moved to Grange-over -Sands in Cumbria, but kept many links with the town until they died in the 1990s.

"I owe a great deal to my early years in Clitheroe: to the warmth and vibrancy of the community and to the outstanding education which I received from Clitheroe Royal Grammar School."