List of University of Leeds people

This list of University of Leeds people is a selected list of notable past staff and students of the University of Leeds.

Students

Politics

Nambaryn Enkhbayar, President of Mongolia

• John Battle, former Labour Member of Parliament for Leeds West (English, 1976)
• Alan Campbell, Labour Member of Parliament for Tynemouth and former Government Whip (PGCE)
• Mark Collett, a former chairman of the Young BNP, the youth division of the British National Party (BNP), and was Director of Publicity for the Party before being suspended from the party in early April 2010 (Economics, 1986)
• Nambaryn Enkhbayar, former President of Mongolia (2000-2004) (Exchange student, 1986)
• José Ángel Gurría, Mexican economist, secretary general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
• Ken Hind, barrister and former Conservative Member of Parliament for West Lancashire (Law, 1971)
• Eric Illsley, Labour Member of Parliament for Barnsley Central (LLB in Law)
• Chris Leslie, Labour Member of Parliament formerly for Shipley & now Nottm East (Politics and Parliamentary Studies, 1994)
• Simba Makoni, Zimbabwean Politician and Candidate for Zimbabwe Elections 2008
• Clare Short, former Labour Member of Parliament for Birmingham Ladywood & International Development Secretary (Political Science, 1969)
• Jack Straw, barrister & Labour Member of Parliament for Blackburn, former Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary (LLB in Law, 1967)
• Paul Truswell, former Labour Member of Parliament for Pudsey (History, 1977)
• Sayeeda Warsi, Baroness Warsi, current Chairman of the Conservative Party and Minister without Portfolio from 2010 (LLB in Law)

Media

Andy Kershaw, journalist and radio D.J.

• Timothy Allen, photojournalist (Zoology, 1989)
• Steve Bell, political cartoonist for The Guardian (Fine Art, 1974)
• Mark Brayne, BBC foreign correspondent (BA, Modern Languages, 1973)
• Mark Byford, deputy Director-General of the BBC (LLB in Law, 1979)
• Barry Cryer, comedian and scriptwriter (English, did not graduate)
• Paul Dacre, editor of the Daily Mail (English, 1970)
• Gavin Esler, Newsnight anchor (MA Anglo-Irish Literature, 1975)
• Polly Evans, television presenter South East Today (campus radio station presenter)
• Jenni Falconer, television presenter (Student, Spanish and Italian, 1990s)
• Thomas Hedley, President of Hedley Media Group
• Andy Kershaw, DJ and broadcaster (Politics)
• Liz Kershaw, journalist and radio DJ. (textiles, 1978)
• Peter Morgan, screenwriter (Fine Art, 1980s)
• Richard Quest Reporter for CNN (Law, 1985)
• Anita Rani, English radio and television presenter and journalist (Broadcasting)
• Jay Rayner, features writer and restaurant critic, The Observer (Political studies, 1987)
• Georgie Thompson, Sky Sports News presenter (Broadcast Journalism, 1999)
• Mark Wheat, radio DJ at The Current from Minnesota Public Radio (English, 1981)
• Nicholas Witchell, BBC newsreader and royal and diplomatic correspondent (LLB in Law, 1976)
• Alan Yentob, BBC Creative Director (graduated LLB in Law, 1968)

Arts

Mark Knopfler, musician

Music

• Dan Smith and Kyle Simmons of Bastille
• Corinne Bailey Rae, soul singer (English Literature, 2000)
• Simon Rix, bass player for Leeds band Kaiser Chiefs (Maths and Geography, 2000)
• Joanne Yeoh, Malaysian violinist (Music, 1999)
• Christopher Mercer, aka Rusko, notable dubstep producer
• Victoria Hesketh aka Little Boots, electronica musician
• Mark Knopfler, OBE, rock musician, guitarist, singer and songwriter (English, 1973)
• Geoff Downes, keyboardist formerly of The Buggles, currently of Asia (band), Yes (band)
• The members of Alt-J met at the university (Fine Art; English Literature, 2007)

Visual

• Shona Auerbach, award-winning director/cinematograper of Dear Frankie
• Leslie Cheung, Hong Kong actor and singer (Textile Management, did not graduate)
• Kay Mellor, television actress and scriptwriter (attended Bretton Hall, 1983)
• Alistair McGowan, actor, comedian and impressionist (English, 1986)
• Chris Pine, American Hollywood actor, studied as a year abroad student during his junior year (English).

Literary

• Jonathan Clements, writer (Japanese, 1994)
• Nick Brownlee, Crime thriller writer
• Tony Harrison, poet (Classics with Linguistics, 1958)
• Storm Jameson, writer (English, 1912; MA 1914)
• Arthur Ransome, writer, studied science for two terms in 1901
• Herbert Read, poet and literary critic (English)
• Wole Soyinka, Nigerian writer and first African winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986 (English, 1957)
• Greg Stekelman, writer and illustrator, author of A Year in the Life of TheManWhoFellAsleep (English and Spanish, 1998)
• Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenyan author (English student, 1960s)
• Patrick Allen (music educator), award winning author and teacher (English and French, 1979)
• Hannah New TV and movie actress

Other

• Paul Crowther - Philosopher, university lecturer and author
• Jeremy Dyson, screenwriter and member of The League of Gentlemen (Philosophy, 1989)
• Barry John, noted theatre director and teacher, based in India since 1968

Science and technology

Piers Sellers, NASA astronaut

• Sir David Baulcombe, plant scientist (Botany, 1973)
• Robert Blackburn, aviation pioneer and founder of Blackburn Aircraft (Engineering, 1906)
• Emily Cummins, Technology Woman of the Future 2006, British Female Innovator Of the Year 2007
• Edmund Happold, founder of Buro Happold and the Construction Industry Council (Civil Engineering, 1957)
• Sir Percival Hartley (1905) Director of Biological Standards, National Institute for Medical Research
• D. G. Hessayon, world-renowned gardening author (Botany, 1949)
• V. Craig Jordan, OBE, responsible for pioneering research into breast cancer and the development of the cancer drug Tamoxifen, (BSc and Ph.D. in pharmacology, 1969 and 1972)
• Michael Lawrie, computer security and social networking expert (Computational Science, 1989)
• Jennifer Ross Meiring, architect director with BDP (B.A., English, 1979)
• George Porter, chemist, Nobel prize winner and President of the Royal Society (Chemistry, 1941)
• Piers Sellers, NASA astronaut (Biometeorology, 1981)
• Karen Steel FRS FMedSci, geneticist, Principal Investigator at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
• Hassan Ugail Professor of Visual Computing at the University of Bradford
• Jennifer Wilby, Director of the Centre for Systems Studies, University of Hull.

Other

• Abdullah Yusuf Ali, one of the world's most famous translators of the Quran
• Michael Asher, Desert explorer and author (English 1977)
• Alistair Brownlee, Olympian and ITU Triathlon World Champion. (Physiology and Sport 2009).
• Daniel Byles, Guinness World Record holding ocean rower and polar explorer (Economics and Management Studies 1996)
• Kat Fletcher, president of the National Union of Students of the United Kingdom, 2004-2006 (Sociology)
• Peter Hendy, Commissioner, Transport for London (Economics & Geography, 1975)
• David Hessayon, gardening author and, according to the Guinness Book of Records, biggest-selling non-fiction author in history (Botany, 1950)
• Richard Hoggart, sociologist and author of The Uses of Literacy (English, 1939)
• Simon Lee, businessman, Chief Executive of RSA Insurance Group (English and French)
• Abdullah O. Nasseef, Saudi geologist, chemist and politician
• Tom Palmer, Rugby Union player
• David Parry, dialectologist who founded the Survey of Anglo-Welsh Dialects
• Ivor Porter, Ambassador and Author of Operation Autonomous and King Michael (English, 1936)
• Richard Profit, polar explorer (Biology and Management Studies 1996)
• Subir Raha, influential Indian business leader (MBA 1985)
• Ken Robinson, educationalist (English and drama, 1972)
• Sir Christopher Rose, former head of the Court of Appeal Criminal Division (LL.B., 1957)
• Jacob Rowan, former captain for the England U20 Rugby Union Team and current player for Leeds Carnegie
• Dr Harold Shipman, general practitioner and convicted serial killer (Medicine, 1970)
• George Martin Stephen, high master of St Paul's School, London (English and History)
• Marilyn Stowe, divorce lawyer and the first Chief Assessor and Chief Examiner of the Law Society's Family Law Panel (Law, 1970s)
• Cec Thompson, rugby league player and co-founder of Student Rugby League
• Paul Watson, Pohnpei State football team coach (Italian, 2005)
• Brigadier Mike Stone (defence), Chief Information Officer of the Ministry of Defence

Staff

The following people have been members of staff at the University:

Zygmunt Bauman, sociologist

• Lascelles Abercrombie, poet and literary critic (Professor of English literature, 1923-1929)
• William Astbury, physicist and molecular biologist who made pioneering X-ray diffraction studies of biological molecules (Textile physics, 1928-1961)
• Zygmunt Bauman, sociologist
• Emeritus Professor Maurice Beresford, Economic historian/ Medieval archaeologist (Economics, 1948-1985)
• Sir William Henry Bragg, Nobel Prize winning physicist/chemist (Physics, 1909-1915)
• Asa Briggs, historian
• Dame Lynne Brindley, Chief Executive of British Library (University Librarian, 1997-2000)
• Anastasios Christodoulou, Deputy Secretary of Leeds University and Foundation Secretary of the Open University
• David Crighton, mathematician (Mathematics, 1974-1986)
• Norman Greenwood, Australian chemist, and Emeritus Professor
• Geoffrey Hill, poet (English, 1954-1980)
• Geoff Hoon, politician (Law, 1976-1981)
• Sir Christopher Ingold, chemist
• Benedikt Isserlin, Semitist and ancient historian
• Percy Fry Kendall, Award-winning geologist (Geology 1904-22)
• Owen Lattimore, pioneer in Chinese studies (Professor of Chinese studies, 1963-1970)
• John Anthony McGuckin, former Reader in Patristic and Byzantine Theology
• Irene Manton, botanist and cell biologist
• David I. Masson, British science-fiction writer (assistant librarian 1938-1939; curator of the Brotherton Collection 1956-1979)
• Sir Roy Meadow, paediatrician
• Ralph Miliband, political theorist
• Leonard James Rogers, mathematician (Mathematics 1889-1919)
• Wole Soyinka, Nigerian Nobel Prize winner
• J. I. M. Stewart (Michael Innes), writer (English, 1930-1935)
• E. P. Thompson, historian (Extra Mural, 1948-1965)
• Professor J. R. R. Tolkien, writer (English, 1920-1925)
• Stephen Turnbull, military historian
• Professor Philip Wilby, composer, School of Music until 2006
• Verna Wright, Professor of Rheumatology
• G. Wilson Knight, literary critic (English)

References

• University of Leeds. "Who's been here". Archived from the original on 2007-01-04. Retrieved 2007-01-10.

External links

• University of Leeds homepage