A HUDDERSFIELD TOWN fan who wrote a controversial book about Leeds United is to be honoured.

David Peace, author of The Damned United, which became a hit film, is to receive an honorary degree from the University of Huddersfield.

And he is joined in the list of honours recipients by millionaire businessman Lawrence Tomlinson, the man now behind the Ginetta racing team.

They and other high achievers in the worlds of books, science, music and business are to be honoured by the university at its 2011 awards ceremonies.

Novelist Peace, star trumpeter Rod Franks, tycoon and philanthropist Tomlinson and physicist Sir John Enderby will all become Honorary Doctors of the university (Hon DUniv).

All four men were either West Yorkshire-born or have close connections with the district.

David Peace was born in Dewsbury and attended Batley Grammar School, Wakefield District College and Manchester Polytechnic.

For many years he was an English teacher overseas and lived in Tokyo until 2009.

He became a critically-acclaimed and best-selling author and is famed for his Red Riding Quartet, powerful novels of crime and police corruption.

The books became an uncompromising serial for Channel 4 in 2009.

His other works include the award-winning novel GB84, which focused on the impact of the 1984 miners’ strike, while The Damned United recreated Brian Clough’s brief and turbulent time at Leeds United.

The book was made into a film, starring Michael Sheen, released in 2009.

Musician Rod Franks, whose trumpet playing can be heard on the soundtracks of blockbuster movies such as Braveheart, the Star Wars and Harry Potter franchises plus The Kings Speech, was born in Shipley.

He began playing the cornet at the age of six before becoming a student at the former Huddersfield Polytechnic, now the university, where he was taught by legendary trumpeter Maurice Murphy.

Rod played with championship winning bands Brighouse and Rastrick Band and Black Dyke Mills while continuing his studies. In 1988 he joined the London Symphony Orchestra as its principal trumpet.

He has played for the soundtrack of over 120 films and is senior trumpet professor at London’s Royal Academy of Music.

Philanthropic entrepreneur Tomlinson, who grew up in Batley, has wealth estimated at £500m.

He attended the local grammar school before going on to study engineering.

He took an engineering degree and worked in the industry but a new career direction came when Lawrence set up a company which purchased a care home from his parents, going on to operate a further six homes under the banner of TriCare. And having seen a gap in the market for a developer who could build quality care homes he also established LNT Construction.

Tomlinson has a passion for car design and motor racing and in 2005 he acquired the British car maker Ginetta. Now the 52-year-old marque employs over 60 people from its state-of-the-art factory in Leeds and exports GT winning racing cars all over the world.

Eminent scientist Sir John Enderby began his academic career at Huddersfield Technical College in 1967. He is a past Physical Secretary and Vice-President of the Royal Society, where he was elected a Fellow in 1985.

Sir John, educated at Westminster College and Birkbeck College in London, was a founder member of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, and served on its Audit Committee and chaired the Education and Training Committee. Between 1985 and 1988, he served as the British Director of the Institut Laue-Langevin in France.

He has held professorships in Leicester and Bristol. His main area of research interest has been the structure and properties of liquid metals and semiconductors, ionic fluids, glasses and amorphous solids and he has published over 180 papers.