Notable Speakers
The Oxford Union has a long history of hosting international figures and celebrities.
- author Robert Greene
- Dalai Lama
- former British prime ministers Winston Churchill, Edward Heath, Margaret Thatcher and John Major
- Mother Teresa
- former US presidents Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan
- US diplomats Henry Kissinger, Madeline Albright
- former CIA director David Petraeus
- former US Presidential nominees John McCain, Newt Gingrich
- US Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger
- former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf
- former Australian prime minister John Howard
- former New Zealand prime minister David Lange
- former PLO leader Yasser Arafat
- Afghan president Hamid Karzai
- Russian politician and former finance minister Grigory Yavlinsky
- notable barrister and prime-ministerial spouse Cherie Booth QC
- Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams
- scientist Albert Einstein
- physicist Stephen Hawking
- biologist Richard Dawkins debating creationist A. E. Wilder-Smith
- savant Kim Peek
- comedian and writer Stephen Fry
- former US Attorney General and Senator Robert Kennedy
- actress Judi Dench
- actors Johnny Depp, Pierce Brosnan, Ewan McGregor, Martin Sheen, Leslie Nielsen
- actor / directors Orson Welles, Clint Eastwood, Warren Beatty
- radio presenter Scott Mills
- comedians Frankie Howerd and Jim Bowen
- Malcolm X
- O.J. Simpson
- footballers Diego Maradona, Paul Gascoigne
- rock star Jon Bon Jovi
- pop stars Michael Jackson, Shakira, Leehom Wang
- singer and viral video star PSY
- composer Burt Bacharach
- televangelist Jerry Falwell
- magician David Blaine
- TV talk show host Jerry Springer
- singers Barry White, Gerard Way
- puppet Kermit the Frog
- fashion journalist Anna Wintour
- author John LeCarre
- international model Katia Elizarova
- musical humourist and conductor Gerard Hoffnung
- porn stars Ron Jeremy, Annabel Chong
- UFC president Dana White
- Islamic preacher Zakir Naik
- ventriloquist David Strassman
- former Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike
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Famous quotes containing the words notable and/or speakers:
“In one notable instance, where the United States Army and a hundred years of persuasion failed, a highway has succeeded. The Seminole Indians surrendered to the Tamiami Trail. From the Everglades the remnants of this race emerged, soon after the trail was built, to set up their palm-thatched villages along the road and to hoist tribal flags as a lure to passing motorists.”
—For the State of Florida, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“All the great speakers were bad speakers at first. Stumping it through England for seven years made Cobden a consummate debater. Stumping it through New England for twice seven trained Wendell Phillips.”
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