Politics Magdalen College has taught members of several royal families. These include king
Edward VIII, who attended while
Prince of Wales from 1912 to 1914, after which he left without graduating;
Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, the king of
Bhutan, who read for an MPhil in politics in 2000; and crown prince
Al-Muhtadee Billah, first in line to the throne of
Brunei, who enrolled in the Foreign Service Programme (now known as the Diplomatic Studies Programme) in 1995 under an assumed name.
Cardinal Wolsey .Among the political figures educated at Magdalen was Cardinal
Thomas Wolsey, who studied theology. He graduated at 15, uncommonly early even for the time, but remained in Oxford for further study and eventually became a fellow of Magdalen. Wolsey rose from humble origins as the son of a butcher in
Ipswich to become
Lord Chancellor and the
Archbishop of York, obtaining great political power and becoming adviser to
Henry VIII. Wolsey left a lasting legacy in Oxford by founding Cardinal College, which Henry VIII would refound as
Christ Church after Wolsey's fall from power. He had also wished to create feeder foundations, most notably in his hometown of Ipswich. However, the combination of his fall and its subsequent loss of investment prevented these foundations from coming to fruition. Today, the only remnant of the original Cardinal College of Ipswich is
Wolsey's Gate, which has been left in a vulnerable state since college land was granted to
Thomas Alvard.
Other notable political alumni More recent Magdalen alumni to become politicians include
Malcolm Fraser, former
prime minister of Australia, and
John Turner, former
prime minister of Canada. Many
members of the UK Parliament have been alumni of Magdalen. In the current
House of Commons sit alumni
Alex Chalk,
Jeremy Hunt and
John Redwood. In the
House of Lords sit alumni
William Hague, Baron Hague of Richmond, former
leader of the Conservative Party;
David Lipsey, Baron Lipsey;
Dido Harding, Baroness Harding of Winscombe;
John Hutton, Baron Hutton of Furness;
Michael Jay, Baron Jay of Ewelme;
Matt Ridley, 5th Viscount Ridley; and
Stewart Wood, Baron Wood of Anfield, former tutorial fellow.
Arts Literature Joseph Addison, for whom Addison's walk is named, was a Fellow of Magdalen during the 17th century. He is known for his play
Cato, a Tragedy based on the life of
Cato the Younger at the end of the
Roman Republic. Popular with the American
Founding Fathers, the play may have served as a literary inspiration for the
American Revolution. The 19th-century poet, playwright, and
aesthete Oscar Wilde read
greats at Magdalen from 1874 to 1878. During this time, he won the university's
Newdigate Prize and graduated with a
double first. After his time at Magdalen, he became famous for his works including the novel
The Picture of Dorian Gray and the play
The Importance of Being Earnest. Wilde began an affair in 1891 with
Alfred Douglas, who was then himself a student at Magdalen. The disapproval of Douglas's father over Wilde's relationship with his son led to Wilde's prosecution and conviction in 1895 for
"gross indecency", that is to say, homosexual behaviour, and a sentence to two years' hard labour. The prolific author
Compton Mackenzie, who wrote over one hundred novels, plays, and biographies, read modern history at Magdalen. He is known for his fiction, including
Sinister Street—which features
St. Mary's College, Oxford as a stand-in for Magdalen—and
Monarch of the Glen. Compton Mackenzie co-founded the
Scottish National Party and was knighted in 1952. Under Lewis's tutelage was the future
Poet Laureate John Betjeman. Though Betjeman failed the maths portion of the entrance exams, he was offered a place to read English on the strength of his poetry, which had impressed the President of Magdalen and former
Professor of Poetry Thomas Herbert Warren. Lewis and Betjeman had a difficult relationship and Betjeman struggled academically. Betjeman left having failed to obtain a degree in 1928, but was made a
doctor of letters by the university in 1974.
Seamus Heaney, who received the
Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995, was a fellow of Magdalen from 1989 to 1994.
Theatre The director
Peter Brook is both an alumnus and an honorary fellow of Magdalen. He was described in 2008 as "our greatest living theatre director". Fellow director
Katie Mitchell read English at Magdalen, and is known for her collaborations with
Martin Crimp. In 2017, she received the
President's Medal of the
British Academy for her work in contemporary theatre and opera, and she has been described as British theatre's "king in exile".
Music In 1957, the
organist and composer
Bernard Rose was appointed Magdalen's Informator Choristarum, choir master. Among his students were
Harry Christophers, a composer and an artistic director for the
Handel and Haydn Society who was an
academical clerk and later honorary Fellow at Magdalen; and
Dudley Moore, comedic actor and jazz musician, who studied at Magdalen on an
organ scholarship.
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber, composer of
musicals including
Evita and
The Phantom of the Opera, studied history at Magdalen for a term in 1965, before dropping out to pursue music at the
Royal College of Music. Andrew Lloyd Webber has received a number of awards for his work, including a lifetime achievement
Tony Award.
Humanities Hormuzd Rassam, the native
Assyriologist, studied at Magdalen for 18 months while accompanying archaeologist
Austen Henry Layard on his first and second expeditions. When Layard retired from archaeology, the
British Museum appointed Rassam to continue on his own. Rassam made several important discoveries: in 1853 at
Nineveh, Rassam discovered the clay tablets that contained the
Epic of Gilgamesh; in 1879 he discovered the
Cyrus Cylinder in the ruins of
Babylon; and in 1880–1881 he uncovered the city of
Sippar. He was the first Middle Eastern archaeologist, but his contributions were dismissed by some of his contemporaries and by the end of his life, his name had been removed from plaques and visitor guides at the British Museum. Layard would describe him as "one whose services have never been acknowledged". The economist
A. Michael Spence attended Magdalen on a
Rhodes Scholarship, and graduated with a BA in mathematics in 1968. In 2001, he shared the
Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his work on "analyses of markets with
asymmetric information". He is an honorary fellow at Magdalen. Novelist and Spanish anti-fascist
Ralph Winston Fox studied modern languages at Magdalen College, where he graduated in 1922 with a first-class honours. Fox was best known for being the biographer of both
Genghis Khan and
Vladimir Lenin, and for being killed while fighting against Hitler backed fascists during the
Spanish Civil War. Philosopher
A. C. Grayling read for his DPhil at Magdalen, completing his studies in 1981. In 2011, he founded the
New College of the Humanities. An
analytic philosopher, Grayling is known for his criticism of religion, including in his 2013 book
The God Argument, and his arguments for voting reform, as in his 2017 book
Democracy and Its Crises.
Niall Ferguson, a well-known historian, also studied at Magdalen.
Sciences , Nobel laureate and organ transplant pioneer. Magdalen counts among its alumni several recipients of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Howard Florey was an Australian pharmacologist who studied at Magdalen on a
Rhodes Scholarship, graduating in 1924. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 for the development of
penicillin.
Peter Medawar read for a BA in zoology at Magdalen, receiving a first, and later for a DPhil, supervised by Florey. His research into tissue grafting and immune rejection led to the discovery of
acquired immune tolerance and became the basis of organ transplantation. For this work, he shared the 1960 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Like Florey before him, Australian neurophysiologist
John Eccles also came to Magdalen on a Rhodes Scholarship, where he read for his
DPhil. He was taught by an earlier neurophysiologist who received the Nobel in 1932,
Charles Scott Sherrington, who held the
Waynflete Professorship in Physiology at Magdalen. In 1963 Eccles received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his research into
synapses. Eccles was also known for his contributions to philosophy, writing on the
mind-body problem and becoming an honorary member of the
American Philosophical Society.
Peter J. Ratcliffe held the
Nuffield Professorship of Clinical Medicine between 2003 and 2006, and is still a supernumerary fellow at Magdalen. He shared the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the oxygen sensing of cells. Other former Nuffield Professors of Clinical Medicine include Sir
David Weatherall, who founded the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine in 1989, and Sir
John Bell, who is also an alumnus of the college. The current holder of the chair is Richard Cornall, who was appointed in 2019. Two Fellows of Magdalen have been awarded the
Nobel Prize in Physics:
Erwin Schrödinger in 1933, while he was a fellow; and
Anthony James Leggett KBE in 2003, who had been a Fellow from 1963 to 1967. Due to Magdalen's close relationship with Oxford's Botanic Garden and as the home of the
Sherardian Chair of Botany, Magdalen has been associated with many accomplished botanists. Historic Sherardian Professors include
John Sibthorp, in whose name the
Sibthorpian Professorship of Rural Economy, later known as the Sibthorpian Professorship of Plant Sciences, was founded; and
Charles Daubeny, who also held the
Aldrichian Chair of Chemistry and founded the Daubeny laboratory. Likewise, many distinguished scientists have held Waynflete Professorships at Magdalen. These include the mathematician
J. H. C. Whitehead, who held the Waynflete Professorship of Pure Mathematics between 1947 and 1960. During this time, he was also the president of the
London Mathematical Society, which established the
Whitehead and
Senior Whitehead prizes in his honour. He is remembered for his fundamental contributions to topology. The chair was held from 1984 until he retired in 2006 by
Daniel Quillen, who received the
Fields Medal for his work in
algebraic K-theory. It is currently held by
Ben Green. ==Gallery==