Richard Wilson, star of the television sitcom One Foot in the Grave, has been elected rector of Glasgow University for the next three years, beating current rector, TV presenter Johnny Ball, by 1,535 votes to 1,483. This represented a turnout of around 22 per cent. Saudi Arabian dissident Muhammed Al-Mass'ari, who held a chair in mathematical physics before fleeing to Britain in 1994, polled the lowest number of votes, 280, in the first ballot.