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 William Ewart Gladstone was a prominent classicist 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 at least 10 Kings of six different nations, 50 Presidents and Prime Ministers of 18 different nations (including 26 British Prime Ministers), seven saints, one pope, 18 cardinals, 86 archbishops, three Fields 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)
• Vajiravhud of Thailand
• William II of the Netherlands

Presidents and Prime Ministers (international)

• Grantley Adams Premier of Barbados, 1954-58; Prime Minister of the West Indies, 1958-62
• Solomon Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike Prime Minister 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
• Norman Manley Prime Minister of Jamaica, 1972-1980 & 1989-1992
• 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
• Raymond Robinson President of Trinidad and Tobago, 1997-2003
• 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
• Richard von Weizsäcker, President of the Federal Republic of Germany 1984-94
• Eric Williams Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago 1956-1981

British Prime Ministers

• Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington 1742-1743 (Trinity)
• Henry Pelham 1743-1746 (Hertford)
• George Grenville 1763-1765 (Christ Church)
• William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham 1766-1768 (Trinity)
• Frederick North, Lord North 1770-1782 (Trinity)
• William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne 1782-1783 (Christ Church)
• William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland 1783, 1807-1809 (Christ Church)
• Henry Addington 1801-1804 (Brasenose)
• William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville 1806-1807 (Christ Church)
• Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool 1812-1827 (Christ Church)
• George Canning 1827 (Christ Church)
• Sir Robert Peel, Bt 1834-1835, 1841-1846 (Christ Church)
• Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby 1852, 1858-1859, 1866-1868 (Christ Church)
• William Gladstone 1868-1874, 1880-1885, 1886, 1892-1894 (Christ Church)
• Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury 1885-1886, 1886-1892, 1895-1902 (Christ Church)
• Archibald Primrose, 5th 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

• Michael Ancram (Christ Church)
• Aung San Suu Kyi (St. Hugh's)
• Kim Beazley
• Peter Benenson (Balliol)
• Tony Benn (New)
• Bill Bradley
• Barbara Castle (St. Hugh's)
• Lord Robert Cecil (University)
• Wesley Clark (Magdalen)
• William Henry Drayton
• Michael Foot (Wadham)
• Charles James Fox (Hertford)
• Geoffrey Gallop (St. John's)
• Frene Ginwala , Speaker of the South African National Assembly, 1994-
• Roy Jenkins (Balliol)
• Boris Johnson (Balliol)
• Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon (Hertford)
• Ruth Kelly (Queen's)
• Imran Khan (Keble)
• Richard Lugar
• Peter Mandelson (St. Catherine's)
• Suvata Vasant Manohar , Chief Justice, Supreme Court of India
• Theresa May (St. Hugh's)
• Chris Patten (Balliol)
• Eleanor Rathbone
• John Redwood (Magdalen)
• Dean Rusk (St. John's)
• Edward Rutledge
• Paul Sarbanes (Balliol)
• Pixley Seme
• Peter Singer (University)
• John Spratt
• Byron White (Hertford)
• Shirley Williams (Somerville)

Other Prominent Royalty

• Masako Owada (Balliol)
• Naruhito (Merton)

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
• Alexander Briant (Hertford)
• Edmund Campion
• John Ingram

Pope

• Pietro di Candia (schismatic Pope Alexander V during the Western Schism)

Cardinals, Archbishops, Chief Rabbis, Theologians, etc.

• William Allen
• Thomas Bradwardine
• William Robinson Clark (Hertford)
• Cardinal Basil Hume OSB (St. Benet's Hall)
• Jerome of Prague
• Jeffrey John (Hertford)
• Benjamin Jowett (Balliol)
• John Keble
• William Laud (St. John's)
• John Henry Newman (Trinity)
• Edward Pusey
• Fazlur Rahman
• Jonathan Sacks
• William Tyndale (Hertford)
• John Wesley (Christ Church)
• Thomas Wolsey (Magdalen)
• Rowan Williams (Christ Church/Wadham)
• John Wyclif

Scientists and Mathematicians

• Joseph Addison (Queen's/Magdalen)
• Josephine Barnes
• Tim Berners Lee (Queen's)
• Baruch S. Blumberg (Balliol)
• Robert Boyle
• Simon Bredon
• Sydney Brenner (Exeter)
• Mary Cartwright (St Hugh's)
• John Cornforth (St. Catherine's)
• Richard Dawkins (Balliol)
• John Carew Eccles (Magdalen)
• Howard Florey (Magdalen)
• JBS Haldane
• Edmund Halley (Queen's)
• William Harvey
• Stephen Hawking (University)
• Cyril Norman Hinshelwood (Balliol)
• Dorothy Hodgkin (Somerville)
• Robert Hooke (Christ Church)
• Edwin Hubble (Queen's)
• Anthony James Leggett
• Gavin Maxwell (Hertford)
• Peter Medawar (Magdalen)
• Matt Ridley
• Martin Ryle (Christ Church)
• James Smithson (Pembroke), Smithsonian founder
• Frederick Soddy (Merton)
• Alexander Todd (Oriel)
• Jethro Tull
• John R. Vane (St. Catherine's)
• Andrew Wiles (Merton)
• Stephen Wolfram (St. John's)

The Arts

Novelists, Poets and Playwrights

• Richard Adams (author) (Worcester)
• Diran Adebayo
• Monica Ali
• Tariq Ali
• Kingsley Amis (St. John's)
• Martin Amis (Exeter)
• Matthew Arnold
• Alan Bennett (Exeter)
• Max Beerbohm
• William Boyd
• Vera Brittain
• John Buchan
• Lewis Carroll (Christ Church)
• Arthur Hugh Clough
• Wendy Cope
• Samuel Daniel (Hertford)
• Robertson Davies
• John Donne (Hertford)
• T. S. Eliot (Merton)
• John Meade Falkner (Hertford)
• Helen Fielding
• John Galsworthy (New)
• William Golding (Brasenose)
• Robert Graves (St. John's)
• Graham Greene (Balliol)
• Mark Haddon
• Joseph Heller
• Zoe Heller
• Alan Hollinghurst (Magdalen)
• Gerald Manley Hopkins
• A. E. Housman (St. John's)
• Aldous Huxley (Balliol)
• Samuel Johnson (Pembroke)
• Terry Jones (St. Edmund Hall)
• Hari Kunzru
• Philip Larkin (St. John's)
• Cecil Day Lewis
• C. S. Lewis (University/Magdalen)
• Richard Lovelace
• Val McDermid
• Dom Moraes
• William Morris
• Andrew Motion (University)
• Iris Murdoch (Somerville/St. Anne's)
• V. S. Naipaul (University)
• Tom Paulin
• Philip Pullman (Exeter)
• Thomas de Quincey
• Dorothy L. Sayers (Somerville)
• Dr. Seuss (Lincoln)
• Percy Bysshe Shelley (University)
• Philip Sidney
• Robert Southey
• Charles Algernon Swinburne
• Jonathan Swift (Hertford)
• 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
• Robert Penn Warren

Actors, Comedians and TV stars

• Maria Aitken
• Rowan Atkinson (Queen's)
• Kate Beckinsale (New)
• Richard Burton (actor) (Exeter)
• Angus Deayton (New)
• Emilia Fox
• Hugh Grant (New)
• Armando Iannucci (University)
• Nigella Lawson
• Dudley Moore (Magdalen)
• Michael Palin (Brasenose)
• Sally Phillips
• Rosamund Pike (Wadham)
• Wallace Shawn
• Rick Stein

Directors and Film-Makers

• Lindsay Anderson
• Ken Loach
• Michael Winterbottom

Musicians, Composers and Conductors

• Thomas Beecham
• Ian Bostridge
• Nicholas Cleobury (Worcester)
• Soweto Kinch
• Kris Kristofferson (Merton)
• Peter Pears (Hertford)
• Simon Rattle (St. Anne's)
• William Walton (Christ Church)
• Andrew Lloyd-Webber
• Howard Goodall

Philosophers

• Theodor Adorno (Merton)
• 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)
• Edward de Bono
• Daniel Dennett
• Michael Dummett (Christ Church/All Souls)
• Ronald Dworkin (Magdalen)
• Dorothy Edgington (St. Hilda's)
• Erasmus (Queen's)
• Gareth Evans (philosopher) (University)
• Peter Geach (Balliol)
• Stuart Hampshire (Balliol)
• R. M. Hare (Balliol)
• H. L. A. Hart (New)
• Thomas Hobbes (Hertford)
• John Locke (Christ Church)
• John Lucas (philosopher) (Balliol)
• Colin McGinn
• Thomas Nagel
• William of Ockham (Merton)
• Derek Parfit (Balliol/All Souls)
• John Duns Scotus
• Galen Strawson
• P. F. Strawson
• Bernard Williams (Balliol/All Souls)

Economists

• Marian Bell (Hertford)
• William Beveridge (Balliol)
• Andrew Dilnot (St. John's)
• John Hicks
• James Meade (Oriel)
• Walt Whitman Rostow
• Ernst Schumacher
• Adam Smith (Balliol)
• Michael Spence (Magdalen)

Journalists

• Peter Beinart (University)
• Fiona Bruce (Hertford)
• David Dimbleby
• Paul Foot (University)
• Ian Hislop (Magdalen)
• Richard Ingrams (University)
• Natasha Kaplinsky (Hertford)
• Krishnan Guru-Murthy
• Melanie Phillips (St. Anne's)
• Peter Preston (St. John's)
• William Rees-Mogg (Balliol)
• Hugo Young (Balliol)

Sportsmen

• Roger Bannister
• Stephanie Cook
• C B Fry
• 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)
• W.L. Morton
• A. L. Rowse (Oriel/All Souls)
• A. J. P. Taylor (Oriel)
• Arnold J. Toynbee (Balliol)
• Hugh Trevor-Roper (Christ Church)

Media moguls

• Rupert Murdoch (Worcester)

Architects

• Christopher Wren (Wadham)
• John Ruskin

Explorers and Adventurers

• Gertrude Bell
• Richard Burton (orientalist) (Trinity)
• T. E. Lawrence (Jesus/All Souls)
• Walter Raleigh (Oriel)
• Cecil Rhodes (Oriel)

Others

• Jana Bennett, Director of Television, BBC
• Christopher Bland , Chairman of British Telecom
• Beau Brummell
• Richard Curtis
• Oz Clarke (Pembroke)
• Alfred Douglas (Magdalen)
• Rod Eddington
• Edward Burne-Jones
• Eglantyne Jebb - (Save the Children Fund)
• Stuart Hall
• Colin Lucas (Lincoln)
• Max More (St. Anne's)
• Max Nicholson (Hertford)
• William Penn (Christ Church)
• John Radcliffe
• Jancis Robinson ,wine critic (St. Anne's)
• William de Silva (University)
• Mark Thompson
• Chad Varah
• Naomi Wolf (New)

External link

• Famous Oxford Alumni
• Short Alumni List Published by Oxford