List of University of Birmingham alumni

Updated on Oct 10, 2024

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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.

Nobel Prize recipients

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

Agriculture

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)

Biology

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)

Chemistry

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

Cultural studies

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)

Economics

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

Education

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

Engineering

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

English

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

Geography

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

Geology

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

History

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

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

Philosophy

John Lewis, philosopher

Bernard Mayo, English philosopher

Physics

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

Political science

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

Theology

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

Zoology

Minnie Abercrombie, zoologist

Leslie Brent, immunologist and zoologist

Desmond Morris, zoologist, author and TV presenter

Karl Shuker, zoologist and cryptozoologist

Actors, comedians and directors

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

Armed forces

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)

Engineers

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

Healthcare

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

Media and journalism

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

Musicians

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

United Kingdom

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

Africa

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

Asia

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

The Caribbean

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

Europe

Sven Giegold, Green Party MEP

Middle East

Lucien Dahdah, Lebanese foreign minister, 1975

Abdulaziz bin Mohieddin Khoja, Information and Culture Minister of Saudi Arabia 2009-14

Oceania

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

Religion

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"

Royalty

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

Sport

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

Others

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

References

List of University of Birmingham alumni Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA

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