Waikato graduation tops for Topp Twins

Thumbs Up: The Topp Twins Lynda (left) and Jools (right), were conferred with honorary doctorates from Waikato University. They celebrate the honour with Vice-Chancellor Professor Roy Crawford and Chancellor the Rt Hon Jim Bolger.

A great day for the Topp Twins as they were conferred with honorary doctorates from the University of Waikato yesterday, and always the entertainers, they managed to get the crowd at Founders Theatre to yodel.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Roy Crawford said the Topp Twins had been entertaining New Zealanders and international audiences for more than 30 years and at the same time addressed social issues relevant to us all.

“They are intuitive readers of the nation’s pulse and they know that people will usually listen to a song before they will listen to a speech. Knowing this, they have been able to change people’s minds over a number of issues, or at the very least they get people to accept different points of view,” said Professor Crawford.

“The characters that Lynda and Jools play have become our friends as they affirm and challenge our identity – Camp Mother and Camp Leader, Ken and Ken, Raylene and Brenda, the Bowling Ladies and socialites Prue and Dilly Ramsbottom. Theirs is a unique form of performing art.”

Jools, being the elder twin received her doctorate first, and Lynda was allowed to speak first. The pair talked about the strong family support they’d had over the years, said they were proud to be Waikato women, and told the students who were graduating to carry on learning and take every opportunity that came along.

At the same graduation ceremony, the University conferred a posthumous degree on Warren Deane who died of head injuries earlier this month after an incident in Hamilton.