BURNLEY-born actor Sir Ian McKellen will receive the Freedom of the City of London at the end of the month.

The Hollywood star has been nominated by Lord Mayor Fiona Woolf and John Bennett, the City of London Corporation’s Chief Commoner, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to acting and his high-profile campaigning work to support the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

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Sir Ian, who has a blue plaque on Scott Park Road to mark his birthplace, will receive the top honour on October 30. His films include X Men, Lord of the Rings, The Da Vinci Code and The Golden Compass while his stage credits include Bent, Amadeus, No Man’s Land, Waiting for Godot, Othello, The Seagull and King Lear.

Sir Ian is co-founder of Stonewall, the LGBT campaigning group, and patron of LGBT History Month, Pride London, and The Albert Kennedy Trust, which supports homeless and vulnerable LGBT young people.

His Freedom of the City of London ceremony will begin with him reading aloud the Declaration of a Freeman,