List of notable Oxford students
The following persons attended the University of Oxford but did not necessarily complete a degree course there.
The list of alumni has been divided into categories, but it should be noted that these categories are somewhat arbitrary, and that many of the university's alumni have been polymaths (for instance Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield was a novelist as well as Prime Minister; some theologians could equally well be considered as philosophers), in these cases an attempt has been made to put them in the category for which they were most famous.
Oxford alumni include nine Kings of five different nations, 49 Presidents and Prime Ministers of 17 different nations (including 26 British Prime Ministers), six saints, one pope, 18 cardinals, 86 archbishops, three Field medallists and 47 Nobel prize-winners (including winners of all categories).
Politics/Royalty
Kings
- King Abdullah II of Jordan
- Edward VII of the United Kingdom (Christ Church)
- Edward VIII of the United Kingdom (Magdalen)
- Harald V of Norway (Balliol)
- Olav V of Norway
- Ahmad Shah of Malaysia (Worcester)
- Tuanku Abdul Halim of Malaysia (Wadham)
- Tuanku Jaafar of Malaysia (Balliol)
- William II of the Netherlands
Presidents and Prime Ministers (international)
- Solomon Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike President of Ceylon (later Sri Lanka) 1956-59
- Benazir Bhutto (Lady Margaret Hall) Prime Minister of Pakistan
- Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (Christ Church) President of Pakistan 1971-1973, Prime Minister 1973-1977
- Bill Clinton (University) President of the USA 1993-2001
- Malcolm Fraser Prime Minister of Australia 1975-1983
- Indira Gandhi Prime Minister of India (Somerville)
- Penaia Ganilau (Wadham) President of Fiji 1987-1993
- John Gorton Prime Minister of Australia 1968-1971
- Bob Hawke (University) Prime Minister of Australia 1983-1991
- Seretse Khama (Balliol) First President of Botswana
- Liaquat Ali Khan Prime Minister of Pakistan
- John Kufuor President of Ghana 2001-
- Farooq Leghari President of Pakistan 1993-1997
- Kamisese Mara(Wadham) Prime Minister of Fiji 1967-1987, 1987-1992, President of Fiji 1993-2000
- Dom Mintoff (Hertford) Prime Minister of Malta 1955-1958, 1971-1984
- Festus Mogae President of Botswana 1998-
- Viktor Orbán (Pembroke) Prime Minister of Hungary 1998-2002
- Lester Bowles Pearson Prime Minister of Canada 1963-1968
- Wasim Sajjad President of Pakistan
- Manmohan Singh (Nuffield) Prime Minister of India 2004-
- Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy Prime Minister of Pakistan 1956-57
- John Napier Turner Prime Minister of Canada 1984
- Eric Williams Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago 1956-1981
British Prime Ministers
- Earl of Wilmington 1742-1743 (Trinity)
- Henry Pelham 1743-1746 (Hart Hall)
- Earl of Bath (Christ Church)
- George Grenville 1763-1765 (Christ Church)
- Earl of Chatham 1766-1768 (Trinity)
- Lord North 1770-1782 (Trinity)
- Earl of Shelburne 1782-1783 (Christ Church)
- Duke of Portland 1783, 1807-1809 (Christ Church)
- Henry Addington 1801-1804 (Brasenose)
- William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville 1806-1807 (Christ Church)
- Earl of Liverpool 1812-1827 (Christ Church)
- George Canning 1827 (Christ Church)
- Robert Peel 1841-1846 (Christ Church)
- Earl of Derby 1852, 1858-1859, 1866-1868 (Christ Church)
- William Gladstone 1868-1874, 1880-1885, 1886, 1892-1894 (Christ Church)
- Marquess of Salisbury 1885-1886, 1886-1892, 1895-1902 (Christ Church)
- Earl of Rosebery 1894-1895 (Christ Church)
- Herbert Asquith 1908-1916 (Balliol)
- Clement Attlee 1945-1951 (University)
- Anthony Eden 1955-1957 (Christ Church)
- Harold Macmillan 1957-1963 (Balliol)
- Alec Douglas-Home 1963-1964 (Christ Church)
- Harold Wilson 1964-1970, 1974-1976 (Jesus)
- Edward Heath 1970-1974 (Balliol)
- Margaret Thatcher 1979-1990 (Somerville)
- Tony Blair 1997- (St John's)
Other Prominent Political Figures
- Aung San Suu Kyi (St. Hugh's)
- Tony Benn (New)
- Bill Bradley
- Barbara Castle (St. Hugh's)
- Wesley Clark (Magdalen)
- Michael Foot (Wadham)
- Geoffrey Gallop (St. John's)
- Roy Jenkins (Balliol)
- Boris Johnson (Balliol)
- Imran Khan (Keble)
- Peter Mandelson (St. Catherine's)
- Chris Patten (Balliol)
- Dean Rusk (St. John's)
- Edward Rutledge
- Paul Sarbanes (Balliol)
- Peter Singer (University)
- Shirley Williams (Somerville)
Other Prominent Royalty
- Masako Owada (Balliol)
- Naruhito
Religious Figures
Saints
- Thomas More
- Edmund Rich
- Richard de Wych
The following saints are recognised by the Catholic, but not the Anglican faith:
- John Boste
- Edmund Campion
- John Ingram
Pope (or possibly Antipope)
Cardinals, Archbishops, Chief Rabbis, Theologians, etc.
- Jerome of Prague
- Benjamin Jowett (Balliol)
- William Laud (St. John's)
- John Henry Newman (Trinity)
- Fazlur Rahman
- Jonathan Sacks
- John Wesley (Christ Church)
- Thomas Wolsey (Magdalen)
- Rowan Williams (Christ Church/Wadham)
- John Wyclif
Scientists and Mathematicians
- Joseph Addison (Queen's/Magdalen)
- Tim Berners Lee (Queen's)
- Robert Boyle
- Richard Dawkins (Balliol)
- Daniel Dennett
- Edmond Halley (Queen's)
- William Harvey
- Stephen Hawking (University)
- Dorothy Hodgkin
- Robert Hooke (Christ Church)
- Edwin Hubble (Queen's)
- Anthony James Leggett
- Frederick Soddy (Merton)
- Andrew Wiles (Merton)
- Stephen Wolfram (St. John's)
The Arts
Novelists, Poets and Playwrights
- Kingsley Amis (St. John's)
- Martin Amis (Exeter)
- Alan Bennett (Exeter)
- Lewis Carroll (Christ Church)
- Robertson Davies
- John Donne (Hertford)
- T. S. Eliot (Merton)
- William Golding (Brasenose)
- Robert Graves (St. John's)
- Graham Greene
- Alan Hollinghurst (Magdalen)
- A. E. Housman (St. John's)
- Aldous Huxley (Balliol)
- Samuel Johnson (Pembroke)
- Terry Jones (St. Edmund Hall)
- Philip Larkin (St. John's)
- C. S. Lewis (University/Magdalen)
- Andrew Motion (University)
- Iris Murdoch (Somerville/St. Anne's)
- V. S. Naipaul (University)
- Philip Pullman (Exeter)
- Dorothy L. Sayers (Somerville)
- Dr. Seuss (Lincoln)
- Percy Bysshe Shelley (University)
- Jonathan Swift
- Philip Sydney
- J. R. R. Tolkien (Exeter)
- Joanna Trollope
- John Wain (St. John's)
- Evelyn Waugh (Hertford)
- Jeanette Winterson (St. Catherine's)
- Oscar Wilde (Magdalen)
- Vikram Seth
- Amitav Ghosh
- Amit Chaudhuri
- Ved Mehta
Actors, Comedians and TV stars
- Rowan Atkinson (Queen's)
- Richard Burton (actor) (Exeter)
- Angus Deayton (New)
- Emilia Fox
- Hugh Grant (New)
- Armando Iannucci (University)
- Dudley Moore (Magdalen)
- Michael Palin (Brasenose)
Musicians, Composers and Conductors
- Thomas Beecham
- Kris Kristofferson (Merton)
- Simon Rattle (St. Anne's)
Philosophers
- G. E. M. Anscombe (St. Hugh's)
- J. L. Austin (Balliol)
- Alfred Ayer (Christ Church)
- Roger Bacon
- Jeremy Bentham (Queen's)
- Isaiah Berlin (Corpus Christi/All Souls)
- Ronald Dworkin (Magdalen)
- Erasmus (Queen's)
- Peter Geach (Balliol)
- Stuart Hampshire (Balliol)
- R. M. Hare (Balliol)
- Thomas Hobbes
- John Locke (Christ Church)
- Colin McGinn
- Thomas Nagel
- William of Ockham (Merton)
- Derek Parfit (Balliol/All Souls)
- A. L. Rowse (Oriel/All Souls)
- John Duns Scotus
- Galen Strawson
- P. F. Strawson
- Bernard Williams (Balliol/All Souls)
Economists
- William Beveridge (Balliol)
- John Hicks
- Walt Whitman Rostow
- Adam Smith (Balliol)
Journalists
- Paul Foot (University)
- Ian Hislop (Magdalen)
- Richard Ingrams (University)
- Melanie Phillips (St. Anne's)
- Peter Preston (St. John's)
- William Rees-Mogg (Balliol)
- Hugo Young (Balliol)
Sportsmen
- Roger Bannister
- Stephanie Cook
- Matthew Pinsent(St Catherine's)
Historians
- Timothy Garton Ash (Exeter/St. Antony's)
- Niall Ferguson (Magdalen)
- Edward Gibbon (Magdalen)
- Barbara Levick (St. Hugh's/St. Hilda's)
- A. J. P. Taylor (Oriel)
- Arnold J. Toynbee (Balliol)
Media moguls
- Rupert Murdoch (Worcester)
Architects
- Christopher Wren (Wadham)
Explorers and Adventurers
- Gertrude Bell
- Richard Burton (orientalist) (Trinity)
- T. E. Lawrence (Jesus/All Souls)
- Walter Raleigh (Oriel)
- Cecil Rhodes (Oriel)
Others
- Richard Curtis
- Alfred Douglas (Magdalen)
- Colin Lucas (Lincoln)
- William Penn
- John Radcliffe