A dairy farmer who founded of one of the world’s most iconic music festivals has been awarded an honorary degree from the University for the Creative Arts (UCA).

Michael Eavis CBE, who founded the Glastonbury Festival in Somerset, was awarded a Master of Arts degree on July 4 at Guildford Cathedral for his services to the creative arts.

The first Glastonbury Festival, in 1970, was attended by 1,500 people who were given free milk at Worthy Farm in Somerset, owned by Mr Eavis.

Today, it is the largest green field music and performing arts festival in the world, attracting more than 170,000 fans and raises millions of pounds for good causes.

UCA, which has a campus in Epsom, became the first academic institution to attend the festival in 2009 and has returned every year since to offer festival-goers free creative arts workshops on pottery, life drawing, sculpture, photography and television.

On receiving the degree, Mr Eavis said: "It’s fabulous to receive this honour from such a formidable institution such as UCA.

"I’m just a dairy farmer so it’s fantastic to receive an academic award like this from a creative university that plays a part at the Glastonbury Festival.

"It still amazes me that 200,000 people want to go to my festival without knowing who is playing or what the weather is going to be like."

Dr Simon Ofield-Kerr, Vice-Chancellor of UCA, said: "The Glastonbury Festival is a national treasure and continues to promote the creative arts to a wide and varied audience.

"Michael has done a tremendous job of organising this culturally-important event for more than 40 years while also staying true to his core values and raising millions of pounds for charity."