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, former chairman of the Young BNP, the youth division of the British National Party; 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
• 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 and 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 and International Development Secretary (Political Science, 1969)
• Jack Straw, barrister and 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 (English & Theatre, 1990s)
• 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 (LLB in Law, 1968)

Arts

Mark Knopfler, musician

Music

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

Visual

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

Literary

• Patrick Allen, award-winning author and teacher (English and French, 1979)
• Nick Brownlee, crime thriller writer
• Jonathan Clements, writer (Japanese, 1994)
• Tony Harrison, poet (Classics with Linguistics, 1958)
• Storm Jameson, writer (English, 1912; MA 1914)
• Hannah New TV and movie actress
• 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)

Other

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

Science and technology

File:PiersSellers-NASA.jpg

Piers Sellers, NASA astronaut

• Sir David Baulcombe, plant scientist (Botany, 1973)
• Robert Blackburn, aviation pioneer and founder of Blackburn Aircraft (Engineering, 1906)
• Nancy Cruickshank, British entrepreneur in beauty, fashion, and technology
• 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, 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)
• Nicola Mendelsohn, British advertising executive (English and Theatre Studies, 1992)
• 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)
• Sir Peter Hendy, Commissioner, Transport for London (Economics & Geography, 1975)
• David Hessayon, gardening author; biggest-selling nonfiction author in history, according to the Guinness Book of Records (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, 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)
• Brigadier Mike Stone, Chief Information Officer of the Ministry of Defence
• 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)

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
• 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
• Catherine Karkov, art historian
• Percy Fry Kendall, award-winning geologist (Geology 1904-22)
• G. Wilson Knight, literary critic (English)
• Owen Lattimore, pioneer in Chinese studies (Professor of Chinese studies, 1963-1970)
• Irene Manton, botanist and cell biologist
• David I. Masson, British science-fiction writer (assistant librarian 1938-1939; curator of the Brotherton Collection 1956-1979)
• John Anthony McGuckin, former Reader in Patristic and Byzantine Theology
• Sir Roy Meadow, paediatrician
• Ralph Miliband, political theorist
• Fred Orton, art historian
• Sheena Radford, Astbury Professor of Biophysics
• Leonard James Rogers, mathematician (Mathematics 1889-1919)
• Wole Soyinka, Nigerian Nobel Prize winner
• J. I. M. Stewart, writer, often under the pen name Michael Innes (English, 1930-1935)
• E. P. Thompson, historian (Extramural, 1948-1965)
• J. R. R. Tolkien, writer (English, 1920-1925)
• Stephen Turnbull, military historian
• Philip Wilby, composer, School of Music until 2006
• Ian S. Wood, historian of the Middle Ages
• Verna Wright, Professor of Rheumatology

External links

• University of Leeds homepage