Former TV newsreader Julia Somerville has backed student protesters but will not join them in a peace demo.
The ex-News At Ten presenter was asked to join next week's peace march in Brighton when she spoke to University of Sussex students last night.
But she said although she did not agree with war against Iraq, she felt her presence would not be appropriate and might prove a distraction.
Ms Somerville was making her second visit to the university since graduating with an honours degree in English in 1969.
She recalled how she and fellow students held demonstrations to protest against the Vietnam War.
Ms Somerville also told how she left ITN last year after feeling she had "read everything there was to read".
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