Bob Dylan to receive America's highest civilian honour

Just weeks before his 71st birthday, Bob Dylan is to be awarded with America's highest civilian honour, the presidential medal of freedom. Dylan, who released his first album 50 years ago in March 1962 , was one of 13 people chosen for the award. He was praised by the White House as being among "the most influential American musicians of the 20th century", for "his rich and poetic lyrics" and for work that has "had considerable influence on the civil rights movement of the 60s and has had significant impact on American culture over the last five decades". Other recipients will include novelist Toni Morrison, Madeleine Albright, the first female secretary of state, physician and epidemiologist William Foege, and astronaut John Glenn. Dylan, who has won 11 Grammys including a lifetime achievement award and a national medal of arts, will be presented the honour at the White House in the late spring. The singer is currently playing South America as part of his "never-ending" tour.