A report by Peter Ray Blood for Trinidad’s Guardian.

Although it’s long overdue, living steelband icon Anthony Williams was bestowed an Honorary Doctor of Letters (DLitt) from the University of the West Indies last Saturday, at the St Augustine Campus of the UWI.

The founder of North Stars Steel Orchestra of St James, the band to win the first Panorama championship back in 1963, and the inventor of the Spider Web pan, Williams has been revered by colleagues and the public for more than half century for his innovations in the national instrument and his unique arrangements on pan.

In 1992, Williams received the Chaconia Medal (Gold) and in 2008, he received the Order of the Republic of T&T, the nation’s highest award. More recently he also received awards from the producers of the St James WeBeat Live and Woodbrook/St James Community Association.