Gifted men and women have studied or taught at the University throughout its history. Among them are 28 British Prime Ministers, at least 30 international leaders, 55 Nobel Prize winners, and 120 Olympic medal winners.

20th and 21st Centuries

• Tony Abbott, former Prime Minister of Australia
• HM King Abdullah II of Jordan
• Sir Grantley Adams, former Premier of Barbados and Prime Minister of the West Indies
• J M G (Tom) Adams, former Prime Minister of Barbados
• Diran Adebayo, author
• Samira Ahmed, journalist and presenter
• Riz Ahmed, actor
• Monica Ali, author
• Tariq Ali, writer
• Elizabeth Anscombe, philosopher
• W H Auden, poet
• Clement Attlee, former British Prime Minister
• Zeinab Badawi, journalist and broadcaster
• Solomon Bandaranaike, former Prime Minister of Sri Lanka
• Sir Roger Bannister, neurologist and athlete
• Kate Barker, economist
• Dame Josephine Barnes, first female President of the British Medical Association
• Tony Benn, politician
• Alan Bennett, playwright
• Sir Lennox Berkeley, composer
• Sir Isaiah Berlin, philosopher
• Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web
• Sir John Betjeman, poet
• Benazir Bhutto, former Prime Minister of Pakistan
• Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, former President and Prime Minister of Pakistan
• Tony Blair, former British Prime Minister
• Baruch S Blumberg, Nobel Prize-winning scientist
• Henry Bonsu, journalist and broadcaster
• Dr Ian Bostridge, opera singer
• Sir Adrian Boult, conductor
• William Boyd, author
• Lord (Melvyn) Bragg, broadcaster
• Katy Brand, comedian and actor
• Justice Stephen Breyer, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States
• Vera Brittain, writer
• Fiona Bruce, broadcaster
• Dr Kofi Abrefa Busia, former Prime Minister of Ghana
• Rt Hon David Cameron MP, former British Prime Minister
• Mark Carney, former Governor of the Bank of England and current Prime Minister of Canada
• Baroness (Barbara) Castle, politician
• Reeta Chakrabarti, journalist
• Bill Clinton, former President of the United States
• Wendy Cope, poet
• Dr Penelope Curtis, former Director of Tate Britain
• Richard Curtis, screenwriter
• Cecil Day Lewis, poet
• Cressida Dick, former Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police
• Edward de Bono, philosopher
• David Dimbleby, journalist and broadcaster
• Sir John Eccles, scientist, winner of the Nobel Prize for Physiology
• T S Eliot, poet
• Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, chef and broadcaster
• Helen Fielding, author
• Lord Florey, Nobel Prize-winning pathologist
• Emilia Fox, actor
• Lady Antonia Fraser, novelist and historian
• Malcolm Fraser, former Prime Minister of Australia
• William Fulbright, politician, founder of the Fulbright Scholarships
• Indira Gandhi, former Prime Minister of India
• Dr Frene Ginwala, former Speaker of the South African National Assembly
• William Golding, Nobel Prize-winning novelist
• Hugh Grant, actor                   
• Robert Graves, poet
• Graham Greene, author
• Sir John Gurdon, Nobel Prize-winning scientist
• Mark Haddon, author
• J B S Haldane, geneticist
• Professor Stuart Hall, sociologist
• Tony Hall (Lord Hall of Birkenhead), former Director General of the BBC
• Rt Hon Lady Justice Hallett, judge
• Harald V, King of Norway
• Bob Hawke, former Prime Minister of Australia
• Professor Stephen Hawking, physicist
• Sir Edward Heath, former British Prime Minister
• Joseph Heller, author
• Sir Cyril Hinshelwood, Nobel Prize-winning chemist
• Christopher Hitchens, author
• Dorothy Hodgkin, Nobel Prize-winning chemist
• Edwin Hubble, astronomer
• Ruth Hunt, former Chief Executive of Stonewall
• Aldous Huxley, author
• Armando Iannucci, writer and comedian
• Bobby Jindal, American politician and former Governor of Louisiana and US Congressman
• Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, former British Prime Minister
• Felicity Jones, actor
• Lakshman Kadirgamar, former Sri Lankan Foreign Minister
• Elena Kagan, Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court
• Imran Khan, former Prime Minister of Pakistan and international cricketer
• Liaquat Ali Khan, first Prime Minister of Pakistan
• Soweto Kinch, jazz musician, saxophonist
• Dame Emma Kirkby, soprano
• John Kufuor, former President of Ghana
• Hari Kunzru, author
• Haruhiko Kuroda, 31st Governor of the Bank of Japan
• Martha Lane Fox, businesswoman, co-founder of lastminute.com
• Philip Larkin, poet
• T E Lawrence, Lawrence of Arabia
• Nigella Lawson, chef and broadcaster
• John Le Carré, author
• Sardar Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari, former President of Pakistan 
• C S Lewis, writer and scholar
• Ken Loach, film-maker
• Alain Locke, philosopher and architect of the Harlem Renaissance
• Val McDermid, crime writer
• Neil MacGregor, British art historian and former museum director including former Director of the British Museum
• Harold Macmillan, former British Prime Minister
• Norman Manley, former Leader of Jamaica
• Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, former Director General of the Security Service
• Chief Justice Mrs Sujata Vasant Manohar, former Judge of the Supreme Court of India
• Rt Hon Theresa May MP, former British Prime Minister 
• Sir Peter Medawar, Nobel Prize-winning scientist
• Dame Barbara Mills, first female Director of Public Prosecutions
• Dom Mintoff, former Prime Minister of Malta
• Dame Iris Murdoch, philosopher and author
• Rupert Murdoch, businessman, investor, and media proprietor 
• Arthur Mutambara, politician, former Deputy Prime Minister of Zimbabwe
• Kumi Naidoo, former International Executive Director of Greenpeace International and Secretary General of Amnesty International 
• Sir V S Naipaul, Nobel Prize-winning author
• Emperor Naruhito of Japan
• Rageh Omaar, journalist
• Michael Palin, actor and writer
• Mansoor Ali Khan ("Tiger") Pataudi, former captain of the Indian cricket team
• Lester B Pearson, former Prime Minister of Canada and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
• Robert Penn Warren, American poet laureate
• Robert Peston, journalist
• Sally Phillips, actor and comedian
• Rosamund Pike, actor
• Sir Matthew Pinsent, four times Olympic gold medal-winning rower
• Philip Pullman, author
• Hugh Quarshie, actor
• Dr Olli Rehn, Finnish public official and former EU commissioner
• Dr Susan Rice, American diplomat, policy advisor, and public official
• Rachel Riley, co-host on Channel 4's Countdown
• Hon Raymond Robinson, former President of Trinidad and Tobago
• Michael Rosen, children's novelist and poet
• Sir Martin Ryle, Nobel Prize-winning physicist
• Dame Cicely Saunders, founder of the modern hospice movement
• Dorothy L Sayers, author
• Ernst Schumacher, economist
• Pixley Seme, founder of the African National Congress
• Vikram Seth, author
• Dr Manmohan Singh, former Prime Minister of India
• Professor Oliver Smithies, Nobel-prize winning scientist
• Laura Solon, comedian
• Cornelia Sorabji, India’s first female lawyer
• Aung San Suu Kyi, leader, Burmese National League for Democracy and Nobel Peace laureate
• A J P Taylor, historian
• Baroness (Margaret) Thatcher, former British Prime Minister
• Sir Wilfred Thesiger, explorer and anthropologist
• Mark Thompson, British and American media executive including former Director-General of the BBC
• J R R Tolkien, author and academic
• Andy Triggs Hodge, Olympic gold medal-winning rower
• Margaret Turner-Warwick, first woman President of the Royal College of Physicians
• Dame Janet Vaughan, haematologist and radiobiologist
• Revd Chad Varah, founder of the Samaritans
• David Vitter, American politician and former United States Senator
• Baroness (Mary) Warnock, philosopher
• Sir Andrew Wiles, mathematician
• Dr Eric Williams, former Chief Minister, Premier and Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago
• Ivy Williams, first female barrister in the UK
• Baroness (Shirley) Williams, politician
• Michael Winterbottom, film-maker
• Jeanette Winterson, author
• Qian Zhongshu, Chinese academic and writer