A PINNER scientist says he is “gobsmacked” after appearing on the Queen's New Year's honours list.

Dr Peter Briggs, former pro-vice-chancellor of Roehampton University, in south London, was given an OBE for services to higher education.

He said: “Obviously I'm very pleased to get the honour. It certainly came out of the blue, I had no idea. I was going out of the house one day and looked at the letter.

“I was utterly gobsmacked because it hadn't really occurred to me. I told my family on Christmas Day. I think they were pleased.”

Dr Briggs, 65, of The Lawns, started his academic career at the University of Sussex, where he completed a BSc in Molecular Science and an MPhil in Theoretical Chemistry.

He moved to Roehampton University in 2002 where he became principal of Southlands College.

But alongside his career as a scientist he is a practicing Christian and currently worships at North Harrow Methodist Church, in Pinner Road.

He said: “The one thing that science and religion have in common is uncertainty. In the end, science is never absolutely certain. There's always new ideas that can come forward and overturn old ones.

“Christians live by faith, which is not certainty. I think they have more in common than people realise.”