Durham University - Alumni

Alumni

See List of Durham University people

Durham alumni are active through organizations and events such as the annual Reunions, Dinners and Balls. There are 67 Durham associations ranging from international to college and sports affiliated groups that cater for the more than 109,000 living alumni. A number of Durham alumni have made significant contributions in the fields of government, law, science, academia, business, arts, journalism, and athletics, among others.

Sir Milton Margai, first prime minister of Sierra Leone graduated with a medical degree in 1926, the 7th Queensland Premier John Douglas graduated with an Arts degree in 1850, Henry Holland, 1st Viscount Knutsford, Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1887 to 1892, graduated with a Laws degree in 1847, Herbert Laming, Baron Laming, head of the Harold Shipman inquiry and the investigation of Britain's social services following the death of Baby P, graduated in Applied Social Studies in 1960, along with Dame Caroline Swift, the lead counsel to the Shipman inquiry, further Mo Mowlam (Sociology and Anthropology), Edward Leigh (History), and Crispin Blunt (Politics) are among the most notable alumni with involvement in politics. Within the military graduates include General Sir Richard Dannatt (Economic History), the Chief of the General Staff, the professional head of the British Army, Vice-Admiral Tim Laurence (Geography), Chief Executive of Defence Estates and husband to The Princess Royal, and Rear-Admiral Amjad Hussain (Engineering, 1979) highest-ranking officer from an ethnic minority in the British Armed Forces.

In the research realm, Durham graduates include John D. Barrow (Mathematics and physics, 1974), winner of the Templeton Prize, Sir George Malcolm Brown (Chemistry & Geology, 1950), invited by NASA to work on the moon rock samples recovered from the Apollo 11 lunar mission, George Rochester (1926), co-discoverer of the kaon sub-atomic particle, alongside Sir Harold Jeffreys (Mathematics, 1919), winner of the Royal Society's Copley Medal, and Sir Kingsley Charles Dunham (Geology 1930) former director of the British Geological Survey. The current Vice-chancellors of Cardiff (David Grant, Durham (Chris Higgins, and Lancaster (Paul Wellings,) are also graduates.

Several alumni hold top positions in the Business world. Richard Adams (Sociology), founder of fair trade organisation Traidcraft, Paul Hawkins (PhD in Artificial Intelligence), inventor of the Hawk-Eye ball-tracking system, Dame Elisabeth Hoodless (Sociology), Executive Director of Community Service Volunteers, Sir Nick Scheele (German, 1966), former President and Chief Operating Officer of Ford Motor Company, David Sproxton (Geography, 1976), co-founder of Aardman Animations who produce Wallace & Gromit, Tim Smit (Archaeology and Anthropology), co-founder of the Eden Project and David Walton (Economics and Mathematics, 1984), member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee.

Prominent journalists and media specialists include Sir Harold Evans (Politics and Economics), editor of The Sunday Times from 1967 to 1981, Nigel Farndale (Philosophy), Sunday Telegraph journalist, and George Alagiah (Politics), presenter of the BBC News at Six. Matthew Amroliwala (Law and Politics, 1984) is the BBC News channel presenter and BBC one weekend news host. Biddy Baxter (1955) former producer of Blue Peter. Arthur Bostrom (BA Hons) most famous for his role as Officer Crabtree in the long-running BBC sitcom 'Allo 'Allo!. Jamie Campbell (English Literature) is a film maker, and also joins Alastair Fothergill (Zoology, 1983),series producer of The Blue Planet, Planet Earth and the director of Earth. Shelagh Fogarty (Modern Languages, 1988) current host of the BBC Radio 5 Live breakfast show alongside Lorraine Heggessey (English Language & Literature) the first female Controller of BBC One. Chris Terrill (Anthropology and Geography) documentary maker, writer and adventurer famous for being the only civilian to pass the Royal Marines Commando tests to gain an honorary green beret. Further BBC hosts who have graduated from Durham include Chris Hollins, sports presenter on BBC Breakfast, Gabby Logan (Law, 1995), Kate Silverton (Psychology), Jeremy Vine (English), Tim Willcox (Spanish), Nina Hossain (English Language and Linguistics) and Apprentice Ben Clarke (MBA, 2011).

Noted writers include Edward Bradley author of The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green, Minette Walters (French, 1971), author of The Sculptress and The Scold's Bridle, Graham Hancock (Sociology, 1973) author of The Sign and the Seal, Matthew Kalkman author of New Liberalism (book), and Lorna Hill (born Lorna Leatham, English, 1926), children's writer, author of the Sadlers Wells series.

In the sports realm, former England rugby captains Will Carling (Psychology), Phil de Glanville (Economics), and vice-captain Will Greenwood (Economics, 1994), alongside Olympic gold-medal triple jumper Jonathan Edwards (Physics, 1987), the 1992 Olympic spare Wade Hall-Craggs (MBA), Beijing Olympics Bronze-medal winner Stephen Rowbotham (Business Economics), London 2012 Gold-medallist Sophie Hosking (Chemistry and Physics), former England cricket captains Nasser Hussain (Mathematics) and Andrew Strauss (Economics) are among the most famous.

In Africa, Durham University has produced professionals such as Brenda Lindiwe Mabaso-Chipeio who is currently based in South Africa, but has extensive experience in the Swaziland academic fraternity. She currently specialises in South African Trade Tariffs and is Deputy Chief Commissioner of the International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC) of South Africa. Mabaso was one of the leading Masters in Business Administration (MBA) students at the University of Durham in year 1999.