Elton John collects honorary doctorate

Almost 40 years after dropping out of London's Royal Academy of Music, out pop legend Sir Elton John returned to the school to pick up an honorary doctorate, reports BBC News. "I wasn't a very good student," John remarked. "When I didn't practice, I used to go round on the Circle Line and then go home." John began at the Royal Academy at age 11, when he won a one-day-a-week scholarship to take piano lessons on Saturday mornings. He left the school before graduation, however. "Elton, by all reports, was some sort of a child prodigy," said academy principal Curtis Price. "He had a very successful time here, although as he looks back on it now he thinks perhaps he was a bit insecure and not as good as some of the other high-fliers."

John's mother, Sheila Fairbrother, said the graduation ceremony was "very exciting," noting, "I've seen him in a frock before, but I never thought I'd see him in one of these gowns."