Notable alumni of ARU London

Nelson Mandela

freedom fighter · 1918–2013

President of South Africa and anti-apartheid activist (1918–2013)

Alfred Hitchcock

producer · 1899–1980

British filmmaker (1899–1980)

H. G. Wells

science fiction writer · 1866–1946

English writer (1866–1946)

Neville Chamberlain

politician · 1869–1940

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1937 to 1940

Lee Kuan Yew

autobiographer · 1923–2015

1st Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore (1923–2015)

Elton John

recording artist · b. 1947

British singer, songwriter and musician (born 1947)

Abdullah Gül

diplomat · b. 1950

11th President of Turkey (born 1950)

Wole Soyinka

novelist · b. 1934

Nigerian writer (born 1934)

Thabo Mbeki

economist · b. 1942

President of South Africa from 1999 to 2008

Chinua Achebe

essayist · 1930–2013

Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic (1930-2013)

D. H. Lawrence

librettist · 1885–1930

English writer and poet (1885–1930)

Derek Walcott

prose writer · 1930–2017

Saint Lucian–Trinidadian poet and playwright (1930–2017)

Brian May

YouTuber · b. 1947

British musician (born 1947)

Tarō Asō

head of government · b. 1940

Prime Minister of Japan from 2008 to 2009

Abdulrazak Gurnah

philologist · b. 1948

Tanzanian-born British writer, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (2021) (born 1948)

Owen Willans Richardson

theoretical physicist · 1879–1959

British physicist (1879-1959)

Joseph Lister

botanical collector · 1827–1912

British surgeon and antiseptic pioneer (1827–1912)

Stanley Baldwin

politician · 1867–1947

British statesman (1867–1947)

Emmerson Mnangagwa

minister · b. 1942

President of the Republic of Zimbabwe

Francis William Aston

chemist · 1877–1945

British chemist (1877-1945)

Charles K. Kao

university teacher · 1933–2018

Hong Kong-British-American physicist

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

malariologist · b. 1965

Ethiopian and politician, Director-General of the World Health Organization

Letsie III of Lesotho

sovereign · b. 1963

King of Lesotho since 1996

Frederick Hopkins

biochemist · 1861–1947

English biochemist

Ronald Coase

university teacher · 1910–2013

British economist and Nobel laureate (1910–2013)

Frank Macfarlane Burnet

virologist · 1899–1985

Australian virologist (1899-1985)

Ricky Gervais

television actor · b. 1961

British comedian

Necmettin Erbakan

university teacher · 1926–2011

23rd Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey (1926–2011)

Peter Mutharika

President of the Republic · b. 1940

President of Malawi

Dr. Watson

military physician

fictional character of Sherlock Holmes

Jagadish Chandra Bose

short story writer · 1858–1937

Bengali polymath, physicist, and biologist (1858–1937)

Joseph Rotblat

physicist · 1908–2005

Polish-born British-naturalised physicist

Eckhart Tolle

philosopher · b. 1948

German spiritual teacher and author

Derek Barton

university teacher · 1918–1998

English organic chemist (1918–1998)

Hans Eysenck

university teacher · 1916–1997

British psychologist (1916–1997)

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

television actor · b. 1967

English actor

Richard Aldington

novelist · 1892–1962

English writer and poet (1892–1962)

Peter J. Ratcliffe

nephrologist · b. 1954

British biologist & Nobel laureate in medicine

English novelist and physical chemist (1905–1980)

Buchi Emecheta

children's writer · 1944–2017

Nigerian writer (1944–2017)

Sandie Shaw

recording artist · b. 1947

English pop singer (born 1947)

Margaret Burbidge

university teacher · 1919–2020

British-born American astronomer (1919–2020)

Mohamed Muizzu

engineer · b. 1978

8th President of the Maldives since 2023

John Snow

epidemiologist · 1813–1858

English epidemiologist and physician (1813–1858)

Samuil Marshak

linguist · 1887–1964

Russian and Soviet poet, playwright, translator, literary critic, screenwriter, author of popular children's books (1887–1964)

Helen Sharman

Research Cosmonaut · b. 1963

British chemist who became the first Briton in space

Htin Kyaw

economist · b. 1946

Burmese politician and scholar serving as the 9th President of Myanmar

Emily Davison

suffragist · 1872–1913

British activist who fought for women's suffrage

Michael Stuhlbarg

film actor · b. 1968

American actor

John Maynard Smith

theoretical biologist · 1920–2004

British theoretical evolutionary biologist and geneticist (1920-2004)

Nuruddin Farah

novelist · b. 1945

Somali writer

al-Tayyib Salih

novelist · 1929–2009

Sudanese novelist and short story writer (1929–2009)

Junius Richard Jayewardene

cricketer · 1906–1996

President of Sri Lanka from 1978 to 1989

Abubakar Tafawa Balewa

official · 1912–1966

Nigerian politician (1912-1966)

Paul Davies

non-fiction writer · b. 1946

British physicist (1946-)

Carlos Agostinho do Rosário

diplomat · b. 1954

Prime Minister of Mozambique (2015-present)

Ayad Allawi

head of government · b. 1944

Prime Minister of Iraq from 2004 to 2005

Hilla Limann

diplomat · 1934–1998

eighth President of the Republic of Ghana (1934–1998)

Israel Zangwill

activist · 1864–1926

British Zionist author (1864–1926)

British mathematician (1925–2015)

Giorgos Vasiliou

entrepreneur · 1931–2026

3rd President of the Republic of Cyprus (1988-1993)

Ken Robinson

documentary participant · 1950–2020

UK writer (1950-2020)

Khushwant Singh

journalist · 1915–2014

Indian author, lawyer, diplomat, journalist and politician (1914–2014)

John Pius Boland

tennis player · 1870–1958

Irish politician (1870-1958)

Jeremy Northam

film actor · b. 1961

British actor (born 1961)

Obafemi Awolowo

union member · 1909–1987

Nigerian politician (1909-1987)

English cartoonist, illustrator and children's writer (born 1932)

Urvashi Butalia

publisher · b. 1952

Indian feminist and historian

Alfred Austin

novelist · 1835–1913

British writer and poet (1835–1913)

A. N. R. Robinson

politician · 1926–2014

President and Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago (1926-2014)

President of Nigeria

Michael Halliday

linguist · 1925–2018

Australian linguist (1925-2018)

Israel Kirzner

ethicist · b. 1930

American economist

Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich, Grand Duke of Russia

art collector · 1917–1992

pretender to the Russian throne from 1938–1992; son of Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich and Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Park Won-soon

politician · 1956–2020

Korean lawyer, Mayor of Seoul (1956-2020)

Naledi Pandor

minister · b. 1953

South African politician

English writer (1909–1998)

Apolo Nsibambi

university teacher · 1940–2019

Ugandan Prime MInister (1940-2019)

Abraham Robinson

engineer · 1918–1974

American mathematician (1918–1974)

Todd Young

consultant · b. 1972

United States Senator from Indiana

Ahmed al-Mirghani

politician · 1941–2008

Sudanese politician (1941–2008)

Alec Issigonis

car designer · 1906–1988

British car designer (1906–1988)

Rukhmabai

physician · 1864–1955

one of the first practicing women doctors in colonial India.

Vengalil Krishnan Krishna Menon

politician · 1896–1974

Indian politician (1896-1974)

Sam Houser

video game developer · b. 1971

British video game producer and developer

Desmond Hoyte

politician · 1929–2002

President of Guyana, politician, lawyer (1929-2002)

Yang Jiang

film screenwriter · 1911–2016

Chinese writer (1911-2016)

Ernest Starling

physiologist · 1866–1927

British physiologist (1866–1927)

Chris Abani

activist · b. 1966

Nigerian-born American author (born 1966)

Nazia Hassan

singer · 1965–2000

Pakistani singer (1965–2000)

Rosaly Lopes

volcanologist · b. 1957

Brazilian geologist and astronomer

Dion Fortune

theosophist · 1890–1946

British occultist, ceremonial magician, and writer (1890-1946)

Grace Alele-Williams

vice-chancellor · 1932–2022

Nigerian mathematician (1932–2022)

Kofi Abrefa Busia

head of government · 1913–1978

Prime Minister of Ghana (1969-1972)

Robert Sobukwe

activist · 1924–1978

South African teacher, Pan-Africanist, and anti-apartheid activist (1924-1978)

Frances Yates

philosophy historian · 1899–1981

English historian of the Renaissance (1899–1981)

Nigerian author (1921-2007)

Fei Xiaotong

anthropologist · 1910–2005

Chinese anthropologist, sociologist (1910-2005)

Isaac HaLevy Herzog

rabbi · 1888–1959

1st Chief Rabbi of Ireland and Israel (1888–1959)

Geoffrey Burbidge

university teacher · 1925–2010

British astronomer (1925–2010)

Robert Swinhoe

scientific collector · 1836–1877

British diplomat and naturalist (1836-1877)

Tom Wolf

governor · b. 1948

Governor of Pennsylvania from 2015 to 2023

Arthur Brown

songwriter · b. 1942

English singer (born 1942)

Birbal Sahni

paleobotanist · 1891–1949

Indian botanist (1891-1949)

Tommy Flowers

technician · 1905–1998

British engineer, helped to design Colossus during World War II (1905–1998)

Sunetra Gupta

epidemiologist · b. 1965

Indian novelist and epidemiologist

Karen Mok

recording artist · b. 1970

Hong Kong actress and singer-songwriter

Ian Hodder

prehistorian · b. 1948

British archaeologist (born 1948)

David Marshall

diplomat · 1908–1995

Singaporean politician (1908-1995)

George E. P. Box

university teacher · 1919–2013

British statistician (1919-2013)

Basdeo Panday

trade unionist · 1933–2024

Prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago from 1995 to 2001

Konstantinos Tsaldaris

head of government · 1884–1970

Prime Minister of Greece (1884-1970)

Suniti Kumar Chatterji

linguist · 1890–1977

Bengali linguist (1890–1977)

Sandrine Holt

film actor · b. 1972

British-born Canadian actress

A. C. Grayling

philosopher · b. 1949

English philosopher

Ola Brown

helicopter pilot · b. 1986

British-Nigerian medical doctor, healthcare entrepreneur

British chemist (1893-1970)

Martin Suter

copywriter · b. 1948

Swiss writer, playwright, screenwriter and publicist

Varun Gandhi

politician · b. 1980

Indian politician

John McDowell

philosopher · b. 1942

South African philosopher and academic

Susan Dougan

politician · b. 1955

Governor-General of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (2019-2026)

Mawra Hocane

model · b. 1992

Pakistani Film & TV Actress

Roman Catholic archbishop

Molara Ogundipe

activist · 1949–2019

Nigerian writer

British-American philosopher

José Graziano da Silva

agronomist · b. 1949

Brazilian politician

Nigerian musician and composer (1905-1987)

John Hopkinson

mathematician · 1849–1898

British physicist and electrical engineer (1849–1898)

Farouk al-Sharaa

diplomat · b. 1938

Syrian politician and diplomat (born 1938)

British astronomer and seismologist (1861–1930)

Alexandros Papanastasiou

sociologist · 1876–1936

Greek politician (1876-1936)

Walid Khalidi

historian · 1925–2026

Palestinian historian (1925–2026)

Asaduddin Owaisi

politician · b. 1969

Indian politician

Patricia Scotland, Baroness Scotland of Asthal

barrister · b. 1955

British barrister and baroness

Ahmed Zaki Abu Shadi

poet · 1892–1955

Egyptian poet and physician (1892–1955)

Esther McVey

television presenter · b. 1967

British politician (born 1967)

Shirley Ayorkor Botchway

director · b. 1963

Ghanaian politician

British computer scientist (1922–2022)

Eva Crane

nuclear physicist · 1912–2007

British nuclear physicist and bees and beekeeping scientist (1912–2007)

Neil Turok

non-fiction writer · b. 1958

South African cosmologist

Charlotte Scott

university teacher · 1858–1931

English mathematician (1858–1931)

Kenyan paleontologist

Adebayo Adedeji

member of the Senate of Nigeria · 1930–2018

Nigerian politician

British author (born 1971)

Göran Malmqvist

sinologist · 1924–2019

Swedish linguist and sinologist, Member of the Swedish Academy (1924-2019)

Edmund Lawrence

economist · 1932–2025

Kittitian civil servant (1932–2025)

Margaret Archer

sociologist · 1943–2023

British sociologist (1943–2023)

Derek J. de Solla Price

historian of science · 1922–1983

British historian and physicist (1922–1983)

Daniel Williams

politician · 1935–2024

Grenadian politician and lawyer

Dion Boucicault

stage actor · 1822–1890

Irish actor and dramatist (1820-1890)

William Halse Rivers Rivers

anthropologist · 1864–1922

English anthropologist, neurologist, ethnologist and psychiatrist (1864-1922)

Antony C. Sutton

university teacher · 1925–2002

British writer (1925–2002)

Rosa Namises

politician · b. 1958

Namibian politician and human rights activist

Reginald McKenna

banker · 1863–1943

British banker and Liberal politician (1863-1943)

John C. Wells

esperantologist · b. 1939

British phonetician and Esperanto teacher

British biologist (1954-2012) Professor of Animal Development at the University of Nottingham

Urjit Patel

banker · b. 1963

Indian economist

Canadian sinologist and academic (1922–2013)

Nigerian writer (1918-2010)

Howard Cooke

politician · 1915–2014

Jamaican politician (1915-2014)

Isaac Todhunter

historian of mathematics · 1820–1884

English mathematician (1820-1884)

Jim Crace

short story writer · b. 1946

English novelist, short story writer and playwright (born 1946)

Howard Marks

autobiographer · 1945–2016

Welsh author and drug smuggler (1945-2016)

Timothy Winter

Islamicist · b. 1960

British islamicist (1960-)

Joe Armstrong

computer scientist · 1950–2019

British computer scientist (1950-2019)

Ivor Grattan-Guinness

historian of mathematics · 1941–2014

Historian of mathematics and logic (1941-2014)

Balu Mahendra

film editor · 1939–2014

Sri Lankan born Indian film director (1939–2014)

British palaeontologist

Catholic cardinal. (1901–1988)

Badruddin Tyabji

barrister · 1844–1906

prominent lawyer, Indian independence movement activist and politician

Kep Enderby

university teacher · 1926–2015

Australian politician and retired judge (1926-2015)

Helen Porter

plant physiologist · 1899–1987

British botanist (1899-1987)

Silvanus P. Thompson

university teacher · 1851–1916

British academic physicist (1851-1916)

Udo Ulfkotte

conspiracy theorist · 1960–2017

German journalist and conspiracy theorist (1960–2017)

Hossein Alâ

diplomat · 1882–1964

Iranian politician (1881-1964), Prime Minister of Iran

Joseph Henry Maiden

botanist · 1859–1925

Anglo-Australian botanist (1859-1925)

Salvador Moncada

pharmacologist · b. 1944

British pharmacologist (1944-)

William Odling

university teacher · 1829–1921

British chemist (1829–1921)

Henry Charlton Bastian

botanist · 1837–1915

British biologist (1837-1915)

Kyriakos Costa Nicolaou

university teacher · b. 1946

Cypriot-American chemist

Ghanaian politician and lawyer (1895-1965)

Michael Foster

politician · 1836–1907

English physiologist (1836–1907)

English ichthyologist (1900–1993)

Kate Reid

film actor · 1930–1993

English-born Canadian stage, film and television actress (1930-1993)

Eduard Punset

television presenter · 1936–2019

Spanish lawyer, economist, writer and scientific popularizer, sophist

Józef Retinger

literary scholar · 1888–1960

Polish diplomat (1888-1960)

Nana Oforiatta Ayim

novelist · b. 1980

Ghanaian British writer, art historian and filmmaker

Henry Marsh

neurosurgeon · b. 1950

English neurosurgeon and non-fiction writer

Denys Maliuska

jurist · b. 1981

Ukrainian lawyer, businessman and politician

Donald J. Harris

academic · b. 1938

Jamaican-American economist (born 1938)

Welsh-English Christian theologian and preacher (1899-1981)

Hikmat Abu Zayd

politician · 1922–2011

Egyptian politician and academic

Julie Makani

hematologist · b. 1970

Tanzanian medical researcher

British historian (1921–1994)

Author, psychoanalyst (1935-2007)

Achim Steiner

environmental consultant · b. 1961

German politician and public servant (born 1961)

Adolphe Pictet

Indo-Europeanist · 1799–1875

Swiss linguist (1799-1875)

Ludwig Ruetimeyer

scientific illustrator · 1825–1895

Swiss zoologist (1825-1895)

George de Roerich

dialectologist · 1902–1960

Russian tibetologist (1902–1960)

English physicist who invented the caesium atomic clock and determined the speed of light (1908-1997)