Aung San Suu Kyi Receives 'Happy Birthday' Welcome As She Visits LSE And BBC (PICTURES)

PHOTOS: Suu Kyi Receives Birthday Welcome As She Visits London

Pro-democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi has spoken of the strength she drew from her supporters around the world in standing up to the Burmese military junta as she visited two London institutions.

On her first visit to the UK in 24 years - much of which she has spent under house arrest in Rangoon - the Burmese opposition leader paid tribute to the warmth and support that had kept her going.

The Nobel laureate was received with enthusiastic applause by an audience at the London School of Economics at the start of a four-day visit to Britain, once her home.

Ms Suu Kyi, whose 67th birthday is today, had Happy Birthday sung to her at the end of a panel discussion on the rule of law at the LSE.

She was also presented with a framed photograph of her father in London in 1947 and an LSE baseball cap - a present also awarded to Nelson Mandela when he visited the university.

Asked where she had found the strength to oppose the Burmese regime for so long, she said: "During this journey I have found great warmth and great support among people all over the world."

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Aung Sang Suu Kyi was also handed a cap by the university which she playfully tried on

She said in Thailand at the end of last month she had been welcomed "as if I was one of them", adding: "This I have found in Switzerland and Norway, yesterday evening in Ireland and now here in England.

"So it's all of you and people like you who have given me the strength to continue."

To laughter, she added: "And I suppose I do have a stubborn streak in me."

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Aung Sang Suu Kyi at the LSE, where she thanked the audience for so the support

Ms Suu Kyi also delivered an impassioned plea for reforms in Burma to be underpinned by the rule of law.

"Unless justice is done and seen to be done we cannot believe in genuine reform. We have to know that reform is based on the rule of law," she said.

"Reform should be applied equally, reform should not be used to protect certain groups or promote another group.

"The progress that we hope to make with regard to democratisation and reform, depends so much on an understanding and acceptance of the importance of the rule of law."

She also urged foreign investors to be mindful of the impact their business might have in Burma.

"Investors must take responsibility for the results of the business that they do inside our country. It's not just environmental consciousness, but also consciousness of possible long-term results."

She also visited BBC Broadcasting House, where she met DJ Dave Lee Travis, also known as the 'Hairy Cornflake'

Suu Kyi told The Radio Times his show on the BBC's World Service was a "lifeline" to her whilst she was under house arrest.

"It made my life much more complete" she told the magazine.

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DJ Dave Lee Travis was known as 'the hairy cornflake' due to his bewhiskered appearance whilst BBC Radio 1's Breakfast Show for so many years.

Later today, Ms Suu Kyi will visit Oxford, the city where she lived in the early 1980s with her late husband, academic Michael Aris and their sons Alexander and Kim.

On Wednesday the Burmese opposition leader will be presented with an honorary degree by Oxford University and is due to address the Oxford Union.

She is to meet Prime Minister David Cameron and Foreign Secretary William Hague and address both houses of Parliament on Thursday, an honour usually afforded to heads of state.

She arrived in the UK last night from the Republic of Ireland, where she met the president, Michael D Higgins, and U2 singer Bono, who presented her with Amnesty International's Ambassador of Conscience award.

Other recipients of the Amnesty award include former Irish president Mary Robinson and Mr Mandela, with whom Ms Suu Kyi has been compared.

She had arrived in Ireland from Norway, where she was presented with her Nobel Peace Prize, 21 years after it was awarded to her in 1991.

Ms Suu Kyi returned to Burma in 1988 to care for her dying mother, despite the fact mass demonstrations were breaking out against 25 years of military rule.

She became involved in the uprising and was appointed general secretary of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in September 1988, the month after up to 5,000 demonstrators were killed by the military.

Ms Suu Kyi was placed under detention by the military in 1989 and remained under house arrest until July 1995, facing restrictions on her movements when finally released.

Her husband died of prostate cancer in 1999 at the age of 53. He had asked Burmese authorities to grant him a visa to visit her one last time, but was refused.

Ms Suu Kyi had chosen not to join her family abroad, fearing she would never be allowed back into Burma if she did so. The last time the couple saw each other was at Christmas in 1995.

She was detained several more times before finally being freed in November 2010.

In by-elections held on April 1 this year she was elected to parliament for the constituency of Kawhmu following a landslide victory.