Paul Stephenson is today receiving an honorary degree from Bristol's University of the West of England in recognition of his pioneering work in race relations.

Mr Stephenson, who was awarded the OBE by the Queen earlier this year, said he hoped his honorary master of education degree would inspire others from black and ethnic minority backgrounds.

Essex-born Mr Stephenson was Bristol's first black social worker. He founded the West Indian Development Council to campaign against racism in Bristol, and in particular the ban on the employment of black people to work on Bristol buses. Within six months, the ban was lifted.

His campaigns helped to pave the way for the first Race Relations Act, which was passed in 1965.

In 1964, Paul Stephenson was made president of Bristol West Indies Cricket Club. In the same year, he left Bristol to work in Coventry as a senior community relations officer until 1972, when he moved to London to work for the Commission for Race Equality, before returning to Bristol in 1992.