Famous Oxfordshire People
Oxford: That great old town in England and the setting for the mystery series Inspector Morse. But most people when they hear Oxford mentioned will automatically think of Oxford University. Oxford University actually comprises of 39 colleges, all of which are independent and self-governing, but all form the core element of the university.
Listed below are just a smattering of some famous 20th century Oxonians:
King Abdullah of Jordan
Rowan Atkinson - comedian
Kingsley Amis - author
Clement Attlee - UK Prime minister 1945-1951
Sir Roger Bannister - neurosurgeon and athlete
Sir John Betjeman - poet
Benazir Bhutto - former Prime Minister of Pakistan
Tony Blair - UK Prime Minister 1997-2007
Justice Stephen Breyer - Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States
Bill Clinton - President of the United States 1992-2000
King Abdullah of Jordan
Sir Grantley Adams, Premier of Barbados, 1954-1958; Prime Minister of the West Indies, 1958-1962
J M G (Tom) Adams, Prime Minister of Barbados 1976-85
Diran Adebayo, author
Samira Ahmed, journalist and presenter
Monica Ali, author
Tariq Ali, writer
Rowan Atkinson, comedian
Kingsley Amis, author
Lindsay Anderson, film-maker
W H Auden, poet
Clement Attlee, UK Prime Minister, 1945-1951
Zeinab Badawi, journalist and broadcaster
Ed Balls, Member of Parliament and Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families
Solomon Bandaranaike, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, 1956-1959
Sir Roger Bannister, neurosurgeon and athlete
Dame Josephine Barnes, first female President of the British Medical Association
Marian Bell, economist
Tony Benn, politician
Alan Bennett, playwright
Sir Lennox Berkeley, composer
Sir Isaiah Berlin, philosopher
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web
Sir John Betjeman, poet
Benazir Bhutto, former Prime Minister of Pakistan (1988-90 & 1993-96)
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, former President (1970-73) and Prime Minister (1972-77) of Pakistan
Henry Bonsu, journalist and broadcaster
James Bowman, counter-tenor
William Boyd, author
Tony Blair, former UK Prime Minister (1997-2007)
Sir Christopher Bland, Chairman, British Telecommunications plc
Baruch S Blumberg, Nobel Prize-winning scientist
Edmund Blunden, poet
Dr Ian Bostridge, opera singer
Sir Adrian Boult, conductor
Lord (Melvyn) Bragg, broadcaster
Justice Stephen Breyer, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States, 1994-
Vera Brittain, writer
Peter Brook, theatre director
Fiona Bruce, broadcaster
Dr Kofi Abrefa Busia, Prime Minister of Ghana 1969-72
Robert Byron, travel writer
David Cameron, Member of Parliament and Leader of the Conservative Party
Baroness Barbara Castle, politician
General Wesley Clark, NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, 1997-2000
Bill Clinton, President of the United States, 1992-2000
Wendy Cope, poet
Richard Curtis, screenwriter
Cecil Day Lewis, poet
Edward de Bono, philosopher
David Dimbleby, journalist and broadcaster
Sir John Eccles, scientist, winner of the Nobel Prize for Physiology 1963
John Edmonds, trade unionist
T S Eliot, poet
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, chef and broadcaster
Helen Fielding, author
Dr Amelia Fletcher, Chief Economist, Office of Fair Trading
Lord Florey, Nobel Prize-winning pathologist
Emilia Fox, actress
Malcolm Fraser, Prime Minister of Australia, 1975-83
William Fulbright, politician, founder of the Fulbright Scholarships
Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, 1966-77 & 1980-84
Dr Frene Ginwala, former Speaker of the South African National Assembly
William Golding, Nobel Prize-winning novelist
Hugh Grant, actor
Robert Graves, poet
Graham Greene, author
Mark Haddon, author
J B S Haldane, geneticist
Professor Stuart Hall, sociologist
Harald V, King of Norway since 1991
Bob Hawke, Prime Minister of Australia, 1983-91
Professor Stephen Hawking, physicist
Joseph Heller, author
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Oscar-winning film-maker
Sir Cyril Hinshelwood, Nobel Prize-winning chemist
Dorothy Hodgkin, Nobel Prize-winning chemist
Edwin Hubble, astronomer
Cardinal Basil Hume, Archbishop of Westminster, 1976-99
Aldous Huxley, author
Armando Iannucci, writer and comedian
Lord (Roy) Jenkins, former Home Secretary and Chancellor of the University
Bobby Jindal, US Congressman
Luke Johnson, businessman, Chairman of Channel 4
Lakshman Kadirgamar, former Sri Lankan Foreign Minister
Natasha Kaplinsky, television presenter
Imran Khan, Pakistani politician and former international cricketer
Liaquat Ali Khan, first Prime Minister of Pakistan
Soweto Kinch, jazz musician, saxophonist
Dame Emma Kirkby, soprano
John Kufuor, President of Ghana 2001-
Haruhiko Kuroda, President of the Asian Development Bank
Martha Lane Fox, businesswoman, co-founder of lastminute.com
Philip Larkin, poet
T E Lawrence, Lawrence of Arabia
Nigella Lawson, chef and broadcaster
John Le Carre, author
C S Lewis, writer and scholar
Ken Loach, film-maker
Alain Locke, philosopher and architect of the Harlem Renaissance
Richard G Lugar, United States Senator
Val McDermid, crime writer
Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum
Harold Macmillan, UK Prime Minister, 1957-63
Norman Manley, Leader of Jamaica, 1955-62
Chief Justice Mrs Suvata Vasant Manohar, Judge of the Supreme Court of India 1994-99
Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, first Prime Minister (and later President) of Fiji
Sir Peter Medawar, scientist, winner of the Nobel Prize for Physiology 1960
Ved Mehta, author
Roland Michener, Governor-General of Canada 1967-74
David Miliband, Member of Parliament and Foreign Secretary
Dame Barbara Mills, first female Director of Public Prosecutions
Dom Mintoff, Prime Minister of Malta, 1955-1958 & 1971-1984
Dudley Moore, actor, comedian, musician
Dom Moraes, poet
Dame Iris Murdoch, philosopher and author
Rupert Murdoch, Director, News International Plc
Artur Mutambara, Zimbabwean politician
Mylo, DJ
V S Naipaul, Nobel Prize-winning author
Crown Prince Naruhito of Japan
Dr Rehn Olli, EU Commissioner for Enlargement
Rageh Omaar, journalist
Viktor Orbán, Prime Minister of Hungary 1998-2002, leader of the Fidesz political party
George Osborne, Member of Parliament and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
Michael Palin, actor and writer
Lester B Pearson, Prime Minister of Canada, 1963-1968, and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
Robert Penn Warren, American poet laureate
Rosamund Pike, actress
Matthew Pinsent, Four times Olympic Gold Medal-winning rower
Dennis Potter, playwright
Philip Pullman, author
Hugh Quarshie, actor
Nick Robinson, journalist
Hon Raymond Robinson, President of Trinidad and Tobago, 1997-2003
General Sir Michael Rose, former UN Commander in Bosnia
Lord (Robert) Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1980-1991
Sir Martin Ryle, Nobel Prize-winning physicist
Dr Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi
Dame Cicely Saunders, founder of the modern hospice movement
Dorothy L Sayers, author
Ernst Schumacher, economist
Pixley Seme, founder of the African National Congress
Vikram Seth, author
Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, 2004-
Jacqui Smith, Member of Parliament and Home Secretary
Laura Solon, comedian
Cornelia Sorabji, India’s first female lawyer
John Spratt, United States Congressman
Rick Stein, chef and broadcaster
Sir Nicholas Stern, economist, author of the Stern Review into the Economics of Climate Change, 2006
Aung San Suu Kyi, leader, Burmese National League for Democracy and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
A J P Taylor, historian
Margaret Thatcher, UK Prime Minister, 1979-90
Sir Wilfred Thesiger, explorer and anthropologist
Mark Thompson, Director-General of the BBC
Lester Thurow, economist
J R R Tolkien, author and academic
Margaret Turner-Warwick, first woman President of the Royal College of Physicians
Revd Chad Varah, founder of the Samaritans
David Vitter, United States Congressman
Baroness (Mary) Warnock, philosopher
Evelyn Waugh, author
Sir Andrew Wiles, mathematician
Dr Eric Williams, historian and politician, Chief Minister of Trinidad and Tobago 1956-1959, Premier 1959-1962, Prime Minister 1962-1981
Ivy Williams, first female barrister in the UK
Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury since 2002
Baroness Shirley Williams, politician
Dr Heather Wilson, United States Congresswoman
Michael Winterbottom, film-maker
Jeanette Winterson, author
Qian Zhongsu, Chinese academic and writer