Alumni
Public servants
- Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, Baroness Butler-Sloss - First female Lord Justice of Appeal, 1988–1999, President of the Family Division, High Court of Justice, 1999–2005
- The Duke of Grafton, Prime Minister of Great Britain, 1768-1770
- Elijah Mudenda, Prime Minister of Zambia, 1975-1977
- Michael Howard, Leader of the Conservative Party, 2003-2005
- Christopher Meyer, British Ambassador to the United States, 1997-2003
- Michael Portillo, Cabinet Minister, 1992-1997
- Nicholas Stern, author of the Stern Review on climate change
- Conrad Swan, Garter Principal King of Arms
- John Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1583-1604
- David Wilson, Governor of Hong Kong, 1987-1992
Academics, artists, writers
Niall Ferguson
Historian
Thomas Gray
Poet
Sam Mendes, Director
- Kingsley Amis, writer
- Richard Baker (broadcaster), broadcaster
- Denis Brogan, historian
- Herbert Butterfield, historian, Master of Peterhouse, 1955–1968, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, 1959–1961, and Regius Professor of Modern History, 1963-1968
- Thomas Campion, 16th century composer
- John Ashton Cannon, historian
- Alistair Cooke, Baron Lexden, official historian of the Conservative Party
- Patrick Cosgrave, journalist, author and advisor to Margaret Thatcher
- Maurice Cowling, historian
- Mike Dash, historian
- Marius De Vries, composer and producer, best known as music director of La La Land
- Roger Deakin, naturalist writer
- Robert Dudley Edwards, historian
- Richard Eyre, director, former artistic director of the National Theatre
- Ronan Fanning, historian
- John Finnemore, writer and actor
- Michael Gough, archaeologist
- Thomas Gray, poet
- Colin Greenwood, Radiohead bassist
- Luke Hughes, furniture designer
- Harold James, historian
- David Knowles, Regius Professor of Modern History, 1954–1963
- Denis Mack Smith, historian
- F.X. Martin, historian and first Catholic priest admitted to Cambridge since the Reformation
- James Mason, actor
- Simon McBurney, theatremaker, founder of Complicité
- Sam Mendes, Academy Award-winning film director (for American Beauty ) and four-time Laurence Olivier Award winner
- David Mitchell, actor, comedian and writer
- A. L. Morton, Marxist historian
- Michael Postan, historian
- William Ridgeway, classical scholar and Disney Professor of Archaeology, Cambridge University
- Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., American political historian.
- Karl Schweizer, historian and author.
- Peter Whitehead, filmmaker
Scientists and inventors
- Nick Barton, evolutionary biologist
- Christopher Cockerell, inventor of the hovercraft
- Peter Guthrie Tait, mathematician
- William Hopkins, mathematician
- Joseph E. Pesce, astrophysicist
- Edward John Routh, mathematician
- Klaus Roth, mathematician and winner of the Fields Medal
| Name | Birth | Death | Career |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tom Askwith | 1911 | 2001 | Permanent Secretary, Blue and Olympic oarsman |
| Richard Baker | 1925 | 2019 | Newsreader |
| Charles Babbage | 1791 | 1871 | Inventor; his analytical engine anticipated the modern computer |
| Augustus Theodore Bartholomew | 1882 | 1933 | Cambridge librarian |
| William Brewster | 1566 | 1644 | Colonial leader and preacher |
| G. B. Caird | 1917 | 1984 | Biblical scholar and churchman |
| Thomas Campion | 1567 | 1620 | Composer and poet |
| Steph Cook | 1972 | Gold medal Olympian in pentathlon | |
| Richard Crashaw | 1613 | 1649 | Poet |
| Richard Eyre | 1943 | Film and theatre director | |
| Robert Foley | 1949 | Director of the Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies at the University of Cambridge | |
| Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton | 1735 | 1811 | British Prime Minister |
| Colin Charles Greenwood | 1969 | Bass player of Radiohead | |
| Syed Mohammed Hadi | 1899 | 1971 | Olympic athlete |
| Erich Heller | 1911 | 1990 | British essayist |
| Sir Christopher Heydon | 1561 | 1623 | English soldier and writer on astrology |
| Michael Howard | 1941 | Former leader of the Conservative Party | |
| Hugh Latimer | 1485 | 1555 | Religious reformer and Protestant martyr |
| Edward Law, 1st Baron Ellenborough | 1750 | 1818 | Lord Chief Justice |
| James Mason | 1909 | 1984 | Actor |
| James Clerk Maxwell | 1831 | 1879 | Physicist |
| Dan Mazer | 1971 | Comic writer | |
| Damian McBride | 1974 | Former Special Adviser to Gordon Brown | |
| Chris Mead | 1940 | 2003 | Ornithologist |
| Sam Mendes | 1965 | Film and stage director/producer | |
| Christopher Meyer | 1944 | Former British ambassador to the US | |
| David Mitchell | 1974 | Comedian | |
| John Penry | 1559 | 1593 | Religious writer and Protestant martyr |
| Michael Portillo | 1953 | Former Conservative MP | |
| Ed Smith | 1977 | Cricketer and author | |
| Nicholas Stern, Baron Stern of Brentford | 1946 | Author, Stern Review on climate change | |
| Anthony St Leger | 1732 | 1786 | Soldier, politician, Governor of Saint Lucia, founder of the St. Leger Stakes |
| Rory Sweetman | 1991 | New Zealand historian | |
| Vincent Watts | 1940 | Vice-Chancellor of the University of East Anglia (1997–2002) | |
| Frank Whittle | 1907 | 1996 | Developed jet propulsion |
| Peregrine Worsthorne | 1923 | 2020 | Journalist |
