This is a list of notable alumni related to the University of Birmingham and its predecessors, Mason Science College and Queen's College, Birmingham. Excluded from this list are those people whose only connection with Birmingham University is that they were awarded an honorary degree.
In addition, soil scientist Peter Bullock (1958 BA Geography) contributed to the reports of the IPCC, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007
Chris Pollock, Chief Scientific Adviser to the Welsh Assembly Government 2007-08
Christopher Wathes, Chairman of the Farm Animal Welfare Council, awarded the Research Medal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England (BSc in Physics, 1974)
Sir Gabriel Horn, biologist and Emeritus Professor in Zoology at the University of Cambridge
John Belling, cytogeneticist
Arthur Henry Reginald Buller, British-Canadian mycologist (BSc in 1896)
Derek Burke, Professor of Biological Sciences, Vice-Chancellor of the University of East Anglia
Keith Chater, microbiologist
Barry Everitt, Master of Downing College, Professor of Behavioural Neuroscience and Director of Research, and Provost of the Gates Cambridge Trust at Cambridge University
Fawzia Fahim, Egyptian biochemist and environmental biologist
Amanda Fisher, cell biologist and professor at Imperial College London (BSc in Biological Science, 1983)
Robert Thomson Leiper, parasitologist and helminthologist
Tony Minson, virologist (BSc in 1965)
Sir Kenneth Murray, molecular biologist (PhD in Microbiology)
Lady Noreen Murray, molecular geneticist who helped develop a vaccine against hepatitis B
Sir Michael Owen, neurologist
Julian Parkhill, Head of Pathogen Genomics at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (BSc in Biological Sciences, postdoctoral research)
Sheena Radford, Astbury Professor of Biophysics at the University of Leeds (BSc in Biochemistry, 1984)
Stanley Salmons, Research Fellowship in the Department of Anatomy and Stothert Research Fellowship of the Royal Society
Swale Vincent, physiologist
Michael J O Wakelam, molecular biologist, director of the Babraham Institute
Rosemary Waring, toxicologist
Patrick Webb, Professor of Nutrition at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University
Michele G. Wheatly, comparative physiologist, provost of West Virginia University (2010–14)
Dario Alessi, biochemist (BSc in Biochemistry, 1988)
Sir Simon Campbell, President of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2004–06)
James Feast, chemist, President of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2006–08), recipient of the 2007 Royal Medal (PhD in 1963)
Arthur Lapworth, chemist
Ajith C. S. Perera, chartered chemist / analytical chemistry and quality assurance, cricket umpire turned by adversity in 1992 November accessibility activist, writer, author
Arthur Peacocke, lecturer in chemistry and biophysical chemistry (1948–1959)
David Phillips, President of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2010–12)
Sir Robert Howson Pickard, chemist who did pioneering work in stereochemistry, Principal of Battersea Polytechnic 1920-27, Vice Chancellor of the University of London 1937-1939
David Richardson, biochemist, Vice-Chancellor of the University of East Anglia
Maurice Stacey, Professor of Chemistry, worked alongside Sir Norman Haworth to artificially synthesize Vitamin C, awarded the 1933 Meldola Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry (BSc, PhD, DSc)
Thomas Summers West, chemist, President of the Society for Analytical Chemistry (PhD in Chemistry, 1952; later a lecturer at the university)
Computer science, mathematics and statistics
Julian Besag, statistician, recipient of the Guy Medal in Silver (1983) (BSc in 1968)
Mike Cowlishaw, computer scientist
Peter McCullagh, statistician, recipient of the Guy Medal in Bronze (1983) and in Silver (2005), and the inaugural Karl Pearson Prize
Mary Lee Woods, mathematician and computer programmer
Mike Worboys, mathematician and computer scientist
Paul Gilroy, sociologist and cultural theorist
Stuart Hall, cultural theorist
Michael Green, cultural theorist
Lawrence Grossberg, cultural studies theorist
Paul Willis, sociologist and cultural theorist
Iain Chambers, cultural theorist
Richard Johnson, cultural theorist
Dick Hegdige, sociologist and cultural theorist
Angela McRobbie, media studies scholar and cultural theorist
Dorothy Hobson, media studies scholar and cultural theorist
Charlotte Brunsdon, media studies scholar and cultural theorist
Tony Jefferson, sociologist and cultural theorist
Chas Critcher, sociologist and cultural theorist
Chris Griffin, social psychologist (University of Bath)
Mary Jane Kehily, education and gender studies scholar (Open University)
Anna Gough-Yates, media studies scholar (Roehampton University)
Kelly Hu, media studies scholar (National Taiwan Normal University)
Ian Goodwin, media studies scholar (Massey University)
David Bailey, economist
Michael Beesley, industrial economist
David Blanchflower, labour economist
Julian Cooper, specialist in Russian economic matters (PhD)
Milton Ezrati, economist
Homa Katouzian, economist, historian, political scientist and literary critic, with a special interest in Iranian studies
Alan Williams, health economist
John Omoniyi Abiri, Nigerian academic, dean of the Faculty of Education University of Ilorin
Mel Ainscow, Professor of Education at the University of Manchester
William Arbuckle Reid, British curriculum theorist
Sir Philip Baxter, chemical engineer, Vice-Chancellor of the University of New South Wales
Tim Broyd, civil engineer and 152nd President of Institution of Civil Engineers, 2016-2017.
John Campbell, casting scientist
John Fisher, leading biomedical engineer
Ray Lightwood, medical engineer at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, with Leon Abrams developed and implanted the first variable rate pacemaker (Official degree of BSc in 1974)
Lionel Simeon Marks, engineer and one of the pioneers of aeronautics, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Harvard University from 1894 to 1940
Sir Louis Matheson, British engineer, served as the first Vice-Chancellor of Monash University
Wahid Omar, Professor in Structural Engineering and the sixth Vice Chancellor of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Marco Rito-Palomares, Professor of Bioprocess Engineering at the Centre for Biotechnology at Tecnológico de Monterrey
P. B. Sharma, mechanical engineer, Vice Chancellor of Delhi Technological University
Bridget Shield, awarded the R W B Stephens Medal by the Institute of Acoustics in 2011
Mohammad S. Owlia, Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering, President of Yazd University
David Lodge, novelist and literary critic (PhD English, 1967; Professor of English)
Lorna Sage, English academic, author and literary critic
F. P. Wilson, literary scholar and bibliographer
John Brian Harley, geographer and map historian
Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, geographer
Terry Slater, Reader in Historical Geography
Michael John Wise, Emeritus Professor of Geography, University of London
Rob Larter, Marine Geolophysicist, British Antarctic Survey, awarded the Polar Medal (PhD Geological Sciences, 1991)
Li Siguang, father of geomechanics in China
Frank H. T. Rhodes, geologist, President of Cornell University from 1977 to 1995
Ethel Shakespear, geologist (DSc 1906)
Gordon Warwick, geomorphologist and speleologist
Harry B. Whittington, palaeontologist who made a major contribution to the study of fossils of the Burgess Shale and other Cambrian fauna
Leonard Johnston Wills, British geologist, recipient of the Wollaston Medal of the Geological Society of London in 1954
M. K. Ashby, educationalist, writer and historian
Halil Berktay, Turkish historian
Sydney Checkland, British-Canadian economic historian (BComm and MComm)
Carl Chinn, historian, writer, radio presenter, magazine editor, newspaper columnist, media personality
Catherine Merridale, historian
Ian Morris, American historian, currently Willard Professor of Classics at Stanford University
Margaret Mullett, Professor of Byzantine studies and director of the Institute of Byzantine Studies at the Queen's University of Belfast
Berrick Saul, Vice-Chancellor of the University of York, economic historian
George E. Taylor, historian
Charlotte Zeepvat, royal historian
Humanities, management and social sciences
Shahram Akbarzadeh, professor of International Relations, East European Studies and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Melbourne
Paul Crawford, academic, author and broadcaster; professor of Health Humanities at the University of Nottingham
John Ellis, media academic
Sir John Hills, professor of Social Policy at the London School of Economics; director of the ESRC Research Centre for the Analysis of Social Exclusion
Stephen Hinton, Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities at Stanford University
Alan Kennedy, Professor of Psychology from 1972-2006 at the University of Dundee
Vincent Watts, management consultant, Vice-Chancellor of the University of East Anglia (1997–2002)
Ian Wilson, Canadian linguist
Medicine and dentistry
Leon Abrams, cardiothoracic surgeon at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, with Ray Lightwood developed and implanted the first variable rate pacemaker in 1960 (MBChB Medicine, 1945)
Babatunde Kwaku Adadevoh, Nigerian Physician, Vice chancellor of the University of Lagos, Nigeria
Sir Gilbert Barling, 1st Baronet, physician
Martin Brown, Emeritus Professor of Radiation Oncology at Stanford University (BSc, Physics, 1963)
Colin Cooper, Professor of Cancer Genetics at the University of East Anglia
Nick Craddock, a world leader in the study of psychiatric genetics; pioneer of genome-wide association studies at Cardiff University
Sir Charles Frederick George, President British Medical Association, dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Professor of clinical pharmacology (1975–99) at Southampton University (Intercalated BSc in Anatomy 1962, MBChB in Medicine 1965)
Keith Harding, Head of Wound Healing Research Unit and Director of TIME Institute, Cardiff University (MBChB Medicine, 1976)
Humphrey Francis Humphreys, Professor of Dental Surgery, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham 1952-1953
Dame Hilda Lloyd, first woman to be elected as president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
Brian MacMahon, epidemiologist
Sir Alexander Markham, Professor of Medicine at the University of Leeds, Chief Executive Cancer Research UK from 2003 to 2008, chair Clinical Practice Research Datalink
Edward Marsland, Professor of Oral Surgery at Birmingham University (1979-1982), Vice-Chancellor Birmingham University (1982-1987) (PhD, Faculty of Medicine, 1950 'A histological investigation of amelogenesis in rats, with special reference to maturation')
Mike McMahon, surgeon
Sir Leonard Parsons, Professor of Paediatrics, dean of Birmingham Medical School; he was the first to use synthetic vitamin C to treat scurvy in children in 1933
Rahul Potluri, doctor, researcher, scientist and founder of ACALM
José Narro Robles, Rector of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (postgraduate studies in Community Medicine at Birmingham University)
Sir Arthur Thomson, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Birmingham University
Aaron Valero, physician
John L. Wallace, medical scientist and inaugural director of the Farncombe Institute at McMaster University
Peter Weissberg, Medical Director British Heart Foundation overseeing funding for more than half the cardiovascular research undertaken in UK universities
John Lewis, philosopher
Bernard Mayo, English philosopher
Aba Andam, Ghanaian particle physicist
John Stewart Bell, physicist and originator of Bell's theorem (PhD in Physics, 1956)
Harry Boot, co-developer of the cavity magnetron
Gerald E. Brown, physicist, recipient of the 2001 Hans Bethe Prize (DSc, 1957)
Noor Muhammad Butt, Pakistani research physicist
Sir Alan Cottrell, metallurgist, UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser (BSc in 1939 and PhD in 1942; later a professor)
John Newton Dodd, physicist, recipient of the 1976 Hector Medal of the Royal Society of New Zealand (PhD in Physics, 1952)
Ian Fisher, Professor of Applied Physics and Director Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Stanford University (BSc, School of Physics and Space Research, 1989–92)
Brian Flowers, Baron Flowers, British physicist
Richard Harrison, Head of Space Physics Division and Chief Scientist at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Frank Horton, Professor of Physics at Royal Holloway College and Vice-Chancellor of the University of London 1939-45
David Hughes, astronomer and astrophysicist
George Isaak, physicist and an important figure in the development of helio- and asteroseismology, recipient of the 1993 Hughes Medal
James S. Langer, Professor of Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, recipient of the 1997 Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize (PhD in 1958)
Patricia Lewis, physicist (PhD in Nuclear Structure Physics)
Elliott H. Lieb, American mathematical physicist at Princeton University, recipient of the 1978 Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics (PhD in Physics, 1956)
Stanley Mandelstam, physicist at the University of California, Berkeley, recipient of the 1991 Dirac Medal of the ICTP (PhD in Mathematical Physics, 1956)
Edwin Ernest Salpeter, astrophysicist, recipient of the 1997 Crafoord Prize in Astronomy (PhD in Physics, 1948)
Cyril Stanley Smith, metallurgist and science historian, worked on the Manhattan Project, Institute Professor at MIT (BSc)
F. J. M. Stratton, Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Cambridge
Sir Ernest Titterton, nuclear physicist involved in the development of the atomic bomb (BSc in 1936, MSc in 1938 and PhD in 1941)
Sir Arthur Vick, Vice-Chancellor Queen's University Belfast 1966-76, Director of the Atomic Energy Research Establishment 1960-64 (PhD, physics)
Raymond Wilson, physicist, recipient of the 2010 Kavli Prize in Astrophysics
Stephen Gill, political scientist
Philip Gummett, Chief Executive at the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Director of the PREST institute, and Professor of Government and Technology Policy at Manchester University (BSc Chemistry, 1969)
Richard Sakwa, Russian and European political scientist
Akbar S. Ahmed, Professor of Islamic Studies, American University, Washington, DC
Robert Beckford, theologian and film-maker (PhD and later a research fellow)
William Lane Craig, philosopher and Christian apologist
Gavin D'Costa, Professor of Theology at the University of Bristol
Lynn de Silva, Sri Lankan theologian, former director of the Ecumenical Institute for Study and Dialogue, Methodist minister
James Haire, Director of the Public and Contextual Theology Research Centre at Charles Sturt University in Canberra
James Holt, Mormon scholar
John M. Hull, Emeritus Professor of Religious Education at the University of Birmingham
J. Spencer Trimingham, Islam scholar
Minnie Abercrombie, zoologist
Leslie Brent, immunologist and zoologist
Desmond Morris, zoologist, author and TV presenter
Karl Shuker, zoologist and cryptozoologist
Chris Addison, comedian, writer and actor
Suzy Aitchison, television actress
Jean Butler, dancer and choreographer, known for Riverdance
Madeleine Carroll, actress
Frank Clewlow, actor-director, Federal Controller of Productions for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Fielder Cook, Emmy Award-winning director and producer
Elliot Cowan, actor
Tim Curry, actor and musician
Mariah Gale, actress
Matthew Goode, actor
Tamsin Greig, actress
Elizabeth Henstridge, actress
Jonathan Holmes, theatre director
Jude Kelly, theatre director
Nigel Lindsay, stage and screen actor
Phyllida Lloyd, director
Judy Loe, actress
Wanda Opalinska, actress, Underworld factory worker Wiki Dankowska in Coronation Street
Norman Painting, actor
Tim Plester, playwright and actor
Tom Riley, actor
Jim Field Smith, actor, writer and director
Andy Wilson, film, TV and theatre director
Jonny Woo, comedian
Victoria Wood, comedian and actress
Jane Wymark, actress, studied drama and theatre arts
Chua Chwee Koh, Brigadier-General (Ret.) Singapore Armed Forces (BSc Mechanical Engineering 1985)
Peter Spencer Collins, Air vice-marshal (BA History, 1951)
Peter Gray, Air Commodore (ret’d) and military historian
Alan Hawley, Major General, Director General of the Army Medical Services 2006-09
Sir Mike Jackson, former Chief of the General Staff, the most senior officer in the British Army
Adrian Nance, Commodore of Royal Navy Maritime Warfare School based in HMS Collingwood, commanding officer of HMS Ark Royal
David Tinker, Royal Navy supply officer, killed in action, shortly before the end of the Falklands War, when HMS Glamorgan was hit by an Exocet missile
Authors and writers
Walter Allen, novelist and literary critic
U. R. Ananthamurthy, Indian writer, recipient of the 1998 Padma Bhushan (PhD in English, 1966)
John Ash, poet, fiction and travel writer
Sefi Atta, prize-winning Nigerian author and playwright
Nasser Azam, contemporary artist
Sam Baker, former editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan
Dominic Barker, children's author
Alan Booth, travel writer
John Briley, screenwriter, won the Academy Award For Best Original Screenplay at the 1982 Oscars for Gandhi
Matt Bullen, writer and screenwriter
Jane E. Clarke, writer of children's books and poetry
James Clavell, novelist and screenwriter
Narinder Dhami, children’s author
Roy Fisher, poet
William Garner, novelist
Patricia Hall, novelist
Sarah Kane, playwright
Philip Kerr, Scottish author
Razia Khan, Bangladeshi author
Stephen Lowe, playwright
William P. McGivern, crime novelist and scriptwriter
Samar Samir Mezghanni, children's author
Rosalind Miles, author
Caroline Moir, author
Clare Morrall, novelist
Olly Moss, graphic designer and illustrator
Constance Naden, writer
Charles Talbut Onions, English grammarian and lexicographer, the fourth editor of the Oxford English Dictionary
Kineton Parkes, novelist and art historian
Tasmina Perry, British novelist and editor
Henry Reed, Poet, translator, radio dramatist and journalist
James Riordan, novelist
C. J. Sansom, crime novelist
Henry Treece, poet and novelist
S. J. Watson, writer
William Purcell Witcutt, folklorist and author
Francis Brett Young, novelist, poet, playwright, and composer
Shahidul Zahir, Bangladeshi post-modernist author
Business and entrepreneurship
Chris Banks, Managing Director of Coca-Cola Great Britain
Mike Coupe, CEO of J Sainsbury plc
George Davis, fashion designer and retailer, founded Next, George at Asda and Per Una
Mark Edwards, CEO of Mformation
Mo Ibrahim, Sudanese-British mobile communications entrepreneur, founder of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation (PhD and later research fellow)
Sir Alex Jarratt, Chairman and CEO of Reed International Limited, Chairman of Smiths Industries plc, the fifth Chancellor of Birmingham University (BComm)
Sir John Jennings, Chancellor of Loughborough University, Chairman of the Shell Transport and Trading Company plc 1993-97
Gerald Rusgrove Mills, publisher who established the publishing company Mills & Boon
Adam Osborne, founder of the Osborne Computer Corporation
Keith Palmer, leader in public and private partnerships in international development (BSc Geology, 1968; PhD, 1971)
Sir Ian Prosser, British businessman
Jim Ratcliffe, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of the Ineos chemicals group
Jim Reid-Anderson, Chairman, President and CEO of Six Flags
Amanda Ross, Joint Managing Director of Cactus TV
Michael Acton Smith, CEO, Creative Director and founder of online games developer and entertainment company Mind Candy
Cilla Snowball, Group Chairman and Group Chief Executive of AMV BBDO
M.V. Subbiah, former executive chairman of the Murugappa Group, Chairman National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) of India
Sir Clive Thompson, former President of the Confederation of British Industry
Sir George Turnbull, UK automobile executive
Sir Peter Walters, CEO and chairman of British Petroleum
Sir Hossein Yassaie, Chief Executive of Imagination Technologies (BSc 1979; PhD, 1983)
Charities and NGOs
H. J. Blackham, first president and co-founder of the British Humanist Association
Ian Bruce, academic, vice-president of the Royal National Institute of Blind People, founder and president of the Centre for Charity Effectiveness at Cass Business School
Hany El-Banna, founder of Islamic Relief
Monica Fletcher, Chief Executive of Education for Health (MSc Healthcare Policy and Management, 1997)
George Hosking, founder of the WAVE Trust
Jane Slowey, Chief Executive of The Foyer Federation
Sir Nick Young, Chief Executive of the British Red Cross, Chief Executive of Macmillan Cancer Relief (1995-2001)
Sir Stanley Brown, chairman of the CEGB
John Campbell, casting scientist
Sir Henry Fowler, locomotive engineer, Director of Production Ministry of Munitions 1915-17
Lord Marshall of Goring, Chairman of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, chairman of the Central Electricity Generating Board
Sir Francis McLean, Chief Engineer of the Psychological Warfare Division of the Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force (PWD Shaef) in World War II, Director of Engineering at the BBC from 1963–68
Sir Terry Morgan, Chairman of Crossrail, Chief Executive of Tube Lines (MSc Engineering Production, 1978)
Sir Austin Pearce, former Chairman of British Aerospace
Harvey Postlethwaite, engineer and Technical Director of several Formula One teams (BSc and PhD in Mechanical Engineering)
Sir Alan Rudge, head of operations at British Telecommunications, Chairman Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, President Institution of Electrical Engineers, Chairman Engineering Council
Peter Wheeler, chemical engineer who owned the TVR sports car company for 23 years
Cynthia Bower, Chief Executive of the Care Quality Commission
Peter Carter, general secretary and Chief Executive of the Royal College of Nursing
Barry Cockcroft, Chief Dental Officer for England
Sir Guy Dain, Chairman of the British Medical Association 1943-9 (M.B. medicine)
Sir Liam Donaldson, Chief Medical Officer for England
David Haslam, chair of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence
Sue Hill, Chief Scientific Officer in the NHS
Rowan Hillson, National Clinical Director for Diabetes ('the Diabetes Tsar') at the Department of Health, 2008–13
Caroline Shaw, chief executive of the Christie Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (MSc Healthcare Policy and Management, 1999)
Andrew Vallance-Owen, Medical Director of the Bupa Group and Deputy Chairman of the Bupa Foundation
Lawyers and judges
Nazir Afzal, Chief Crown Prosecutor of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for North West England
Michelle Arana, first female Justice of the Supreme Court of Belize (LLM Commercial Law, 2004)
Brian Barker QC, Recorder of London (the senior judge at the Old Bailey), former Common Serjeant of London (the second most senior judge at the Old Bailey)
Inigo Bing, Circuit Judge (LLB, 1966)
Sophie Chandauka, corporate lawyer and Head of Asset Financing at Virgin Money in London
Sir Michael Davies, High Court Judge, one of the first judges to specifically handle defamation cases
Dame Nicola Davies, High Court Judge
Michael Dudley, Circuit Judge
Sir Henry Globe, High Court Judge (LLB)
David Allen Green, lawyer and writer
Robert Kisanga, Justice of Appeal at the Court of Appeal in Tanzania (LLB)
Geoffrey Ma, Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong
Sir Philip Otton, Lord Justice of Appeal, Justice of Appeal Gibraltar, judge of the Qatar Civil and Commercial Court (LLB)
David Pearl, President of the Immigration Appeal Tribunal and of the Care Standards Tribunal, member of the judicial appointments commission
John Charles Price, Circuit Judge
John Reddihough, Circuit Judge who presided in the Munir Hussain Case (1968 LLB)
Phil Shiner, lawyer struck off for misconduct
Robert Tang, Judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong
Alan Taylor, Circuit Judge (1960 LLB)
Dame Lucy Theis, High Court Judge
Kay Alexander, TV presenter
Michael Aston, TV archaeologist (as "Mick Aston")
Carol Barnes, television newsreader and broadcaster
Jacquie Beltrao, presenter
David Bergman, Bangladesh-based journalist
Michael Collie, journalist, TV presenter
Ellie Crisell, journalist, TV presenter
David Currie, Baron Currie of Marylebone, chairman of Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority, and member of the House of Lords
Alan Davey, controller of BBC Radio 3, former chief executive of Arts Council England
Alex Deakin, BBC weatherman
Alan Dedicoat, announcer
Philip Eden, weather journalist and weather historian
Philippa Forrester, TV presenter
Jane Garvey, broadcast journalist, presenter of Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4 (2007–)
Jon Gaunt, radio presenter and The Sun columnist
Joanna Gosling, journalist, TV presenter
Simon Groom, TV presenter
John Hammond, weather forecaster
Kate Harwood, television producer, BBC's Head of Drama
Celina Hinchcliffe, presenter
Victoria Hollins, journalist
Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of The Lancet
Liz Locke, investment banker and series six contestant on The Apprentice
Saima Mohsin, Dawn News Senior Journalist, News Eye
Lizo Mzimba, journalist, TV presenter and former editor of Redbrick
Femi Oke, presenter
Jack Schofield, journalist, computer editor, Guardian newspaper
Ben Shephard, TV presenter
Terry Spencer, war photographer for Life magazine
Chris Tarrant, TV presenter
Tim Taylor, creator and Producer of Channel 4's series Time Team
Simon Thomas, Sky Sports reporter
Baroness Wheatcroft, former editor of the Sunday Telegraph, sits on the Conservative bench of the House of Lords
Brian Whitaker, journalist
Natasha Barrett, composer
Dame Josephine Barstow, soprano
John Casken, composer
Spencer Davis, 1960s pop star
Sir Edward Downes, conductor
Jonathan Goldstein, award-winning composer
Amrita Hunjan, model and singer in R'n'B/pop band Rouge
Simon Le Bon, lead singer, lyricist and musician of the band Duran Duran and its offshoot Arcadia
Natasha Marsh, operatic soprano
Adrian Moore, composer
Brian Priestman, conductor and music educator
David Prior, sound artist and composer
Sister Bliss, born Ayalah Bentovim, founder member of the band Faithless
Bill Sharpe composer, pianist and founder member of the band Shakatak
Karl Willetts, vocalist
Peter Wishart, composer
Michael Wolters, composer
Baroness Amos, first black woman to sit in the British Cabinet
Hilary Armstrong, Labour MP, former cabinet minister
Susan Atkins, Service Complaints Commissioner for the Armed Forces (LLB, 1973)
Rosie Barnes, SDP MP
Sir Anthony Beaumont-Dark, MP
Peter Bennett, 1st Baron Bennett of Edgbaston, Conservative MP
Phil Bennion, MEP
Luciana Berger, MP
Baron Bhattacharyya, Labour member of the House of Lords
Bob Blizzard, Labour MP
Sir Albert Bore, leader of Birmingham City Council
Sir Neville Bosworth, CBE, QC, leader of Birmingham City Council
John Butcher, former MP
Lord Chitnis, British Liberal political organizer
Sarah Cox, British civil servant
George Craddock, MP
Valerie Davey, MP
Jane Davidson, minister for environment, sustainability and housing in the Welsh Assembly Government
David Drew, Labour MP
Peter Duncan, former MP
Richard Edwards, Welsh Labour Party politician
Derek Fatchett, MP, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (Deputy Foreign Secretary) 1997-99
Elizabeth Filkin, former Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards
Karen Gillon, Member of Scottish Parliament
Matthew Green, MP
Harold Gurden, MP
Patrick Hall, former MP
Sir Michael Higgs, MP
Charles William Hobley, pioneering colonial administrator in Kenya
Sir Stephen Houghton, Chair of the Special Interest Group of Metropolitan Authorities (SIGMA) (MSc Local Governance, 2004)
Sir Tom Jeffery, Director General for Children, Young People and Families at the Department for Education
Lynne Jones, Labour MP
Doreen Massey, Baroness Massey of Darwen, Labour member of the House of Lords
Basil McCrea, UUP member of the Northern Ireland Assembly
Margaret Moran, former MP
Jessica Morden, Labour MP
James Morris, MP
Colin Phipps, MP
Lord Roll of Ipsden, former director of the Bank of England
Sir George Ernest Schuster, MP colonial administrator
Ruth Smeeth, MP
Julian Smith, MP
Anna Soubry, Minister of State
Rachel Squire, MP
Gisela Stuart, Labour MP (began a PhD in Trust Law at Birmingham University; did not complete)
Richard Tracey, former Conservative MP and Minister, Member of Greater London Assembly
Andrew Turner, Conservative MP
John Howard Whitehouse, Liberal Member of Parliament
Ann Widdecombe, former Minister of State and Privy Counsellor
Phil Willis, Baron Willis of Knaresborough, Member of Parliament for Harrogate and Knaresborough (1997–2010)
William Wilson, Labour politician, MP for Coventry constituencies
Concy Aciro, Ugandan MP, was involved in peace negotiations and reconstruction work (MSc Poverty Reduction and Development Management)
Juliana Azumah-Mensah, Ghanaian Minister for Women and Children's Affairs
Rashid Beebeejaun, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Utilities of Mauritius
James Nsaba Buturo, Ugandan MP and minister
Mohamed Yusuf Haji, Somali politician, former Minister of Defence of Kenya
William Selim Hanna, Egyptian politician, former Minister of Housing of Egypt
Josiah Idowu-Fearon, formerly Bishop in the Church of Nigeria, as of 2015 Secretary General of the Anglican Communion.
Bala Garba Jahumpa, foreign minister of Gambia
David Karimanzira, Zimbabwean politician and cabinet minister
Didymus Mutasa, Zimbabwe's Speaker of Parliament 1980-90, Minister of State for National Security, Lands, Land Reform & Resettlement, Minister of State for Presidential Affairs
Mark Mwandosya, Tanzanian minister
Emmanuel Chuka Osammor, Nigerian minister
Junedin Sado, Ethiopian cabinet minister
Charles Ugwuh, engineer and industrialist who headed the Nigerian ministry of commerce and industry 2007-08
Stephen Ho, member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong
Richard Hu, former Singapore Minister of Finance
Suhaimi Kamaruddin, Malaysian politician, former chief of UMNO Youth and former Deputy Minister of Education
Chen Liangyu, former CPC Shanghai Committee Secretary
Pratikno, Indonesian Minister of State Secretariat
Kanuri Lakshmana Rao, member of the Indian Parliament
Ajit Seth, Cabinet Secretary of the Republic of India
Alwyn Didar Singh, Indian former civil servant and current Secretary General of the FICCI
Shahzada Iftikhar Uddin, member of the National Assembly of Pakistan
Matthias Yao, former Singapore Senior Minister of State
John Delaney, Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs of The Bahamas (LLB Law, 1986)
Harold Lovell, Minister of Finance, the Economy and Public Administration Antigua and Barbuda
Alvina Reynolds, Saint Lucian minister for Health, Wellness, Human Services and Gender Relations
Sven Giegold, Green Party MEP
Lucien Dahdah, Lebanese foreign minister, 1975
Abdulaziz bin Mohieddin Khoja, Information and Culture Minister of Saudi Arabia 2009-14
Gerry Bates, member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly
Michael Johnson, member of the Australian House of Representatives
ʻAna Taufeʻulungaki, Tongan minister
International organisations and ambassadors
Akbar S. Ahmed, Pakistan's High Commissioner to the UK
Kevin Isaac, High Commissioner of Saint Kitts and Nevis to the UK (MA International Studies 1995)
Abdulaziz bin Mohieddin Khoja, Saudi ambassador and minister of culture and information
George Kirya, Ugandan High Commissioner to the UK
Thomas Adeoye Lambo, deputy director general World Health Organization
Babatunde Osotimehin, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and former Nigerian Minister of Health
Desra Percaya, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Republic of Indonesia to the United Nations in New York
Sir David Aubrey Scott, UK High Commissioner to New Zealand and Ambassador to South Africa
Caroline Baston, Archdeacon of the Isle of Wight
Paul Bayes, Bishop of Liverpool
Brian Castle, Bishop of Tonbridge
Jeff Cuttell, Dean of Derby
Colin Docker, Bishop of Horsham
Philip Egan, Catholic Bishop of Portsmouth
Paul Hackwood, Archdeacon of Loughborough
Arthur Hawes, Archdeacon of Lincoln
Michael Higgins, Dean of Ely
Toby Howarth, Bishop of Bradford
Josiah Idowu-Fearon, formerly Bishop in the Church of Nigeria, as of 2015 Secretary General of the Anglican Communion.
Herbert Jones, Dean of Manchester
Michael Langrish, Bishop of Exeter
Bolly Lapok, Metropolitan Archbishop; Primate of the Anglican Church of the Province of South East Asia; Bishop of Kuching
Sidney Lowe, Archdeacon of Bradford
Kevin McDonald, Archbishop of Southwark
Eber Priestley, Bishop of Medak
David Shearlock, Dean of Truro
Alan Smith, Bishop of St Albans
Stephen Venner, Bishop to the Forces and Bishop of the Falkland Islands
Lucy Winkett, Rector of St James's Piccadilly and regular contributor to Radio 4's "Thought for the Day"
Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, Lesotho High Commissioner to the United Kingdom
Prince Manucher Mirza Farman Farmaian, sixth son of Prince Abdol Hossein Mirza Farmanfarma and of Batoul Khanoum, Iran
Zafar Altaf, former cricketer for Pakistan; later Federal Secretary for Agriculture in the Pakistan civil service
Joey Barrington, squash player, son of Jonah Barrington
Tom Bertram, England hockey player
Sophie Bray, British field hockey player
Lisa Clayton, Dowager Viscountess Cobham, first British woman to sail single-handed around the world
Julie Crane, high-jumper
Allison Curbishley, Olympic 400m athlete
Melanie Easter, British Paralympic swimmer and cyclist
Hannah England, middle-distance athlete
Naomi Folkard, British archer
David Gill, Chief executive of Manchester United
Luke Gunn, cross country runner
Ian Hall, cricketer, Batsman for Derbyshire (1959–72)
Jill Clarke Harrison, long distance runner
Patrick Head, co-founder and Engineering Director of the Williams Formula One team
Rachel Heal, racing cyclist
David Hemp, cricketer who represented Bermuda in the Cricket World Cup and also represented England Lions
Andy Holden, English long distance runner
Rachel Joyce, triathlete
Paul Manning, professional track cyclist
Simon Mantell, England hockey player
Baz Moffat, British rower
Shelley Newman, retired discus thrower
Phil Pask, senior physiotherapist to England national rugby union team and British and Irish Lions rugby union squad
Adam Pengilly, British skeleton racer
Pamela Relph, British adaptive rower who competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics
Nick Smith, Olympic canoeist
Frank Tickner, cross country runner
Victor Ubogu, former Bath and England rugby union player
Chrissie Wellington, first British athlete to win the Ironman Triathlon World Championship
Lisa Ackerley, food safety expert
Nasser Azam, contemporary artist (BCom)
Dame Christine Braddock, Principal and Chief Executive of the Birmingham Metropolitan College, High Sheriff of the West Midlands (BPhilEd Education, 1989)
Jo Bradwell, businessman and philanthropist who donated £15 million to establish the Forest Research Institute at Birmingham University (medicine 1968)
Terry Bramall, businessman and philanthropist (BSc Civil Engineering, 1964)
Deborah Cadman, Chief Executive of Suffolk County Council
Bernard Cafferty, chess master, columnist, writer, magazine editor and translator
Sir Richard Cory-Wright Bt, 4th Baronet Cory-Wright
Ernest Gold, Deputy Director of the Meteorological Office
Henry Eliot Howard, ornithologist
David Kelly, UN weapons inspector
Doreen Liu, Singaporean businesswoman and philanthropist
Dame Joan McVittie, transforming headteacher (BSc Biological Sciences, 1974)
Robert Parker, principal dancer Birmingham Royal Ballet, Artistic Director Elmhurst School for Dance (MPhil Education, 2011)
Dame Vicki Paterson, transforming headteacher (BEd Education, 1978)
Paul Ramsay, businessman, philanthropist and computer tycoon (BSc Mathematics and Computer Science, 1975; MSc Computer Science, 1976; PhD Computer Science, 1982)
Phua Kok Khoo, physicist, Founding Director of the Institute of Advanced Studies at Nanyang Technological University and Adjunct Professor at the National University of Singapore (PhD in Mathematical Physics, 1970)
Jim Swire, Pan Am Flight 103 lobbier
Rodolfo Neri Vela, Mexican astronaut, professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (PhD in electromagnetic radiation, 1978; postdoctoral researcher in waveguides for one year)
David Willey, University of Pittsburgh Physics Instructor and presenter of live physics shows
