King Edward’s School strives to prepare its students for the world beyond its doors, creating active citizens who will go on to contribute to society.
Our School song commends those who have taken its messages to heart, and we are proud to help celebrate the many and varied positive contributions our alumni have made to the world. A selection of notable alumni are included below.
- Richard Borcherds, winner of the Fields Medal (mathematical equivalent of the Nobel Prize) (Class of 1978)
- Edward Burne-Jones, Pre-Raphaelite artist (Class of 1851)
- Lee Child, author of the bestselling ‘Jack Reacher’ series (Class of 1973)
- Jonathan Coe, author of The Rotters’ Club (Class of 1979)
- Paul Griffiths, music critic (Class of 1965)
- Nick Hockley, chief executive of Cricket Australia (Class of 1993)
- Ravin Jain, head of race strategy operations for Scuderia Ferrari (Class of 2012)
- Tony Miles, first English chess grandmaster (Class of 1973)
- David Munrow, musician and music historian (Class of 1960)
- James Quincey, chairman and chief executive of The Coca-Cola Company (Class of 1983)
- Sir Paul Ruddock, philanthropist of the Arts (Class of 1976)
- Field Marshall Slim, General of the Second World War (Class of 1909)
- JRR Tolkien, author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (Class of 1910)
- Kenneth Tynan, theatre critic (Class of 1945)
- Sir John Vane, Nobel Prize-winner (Medicine) (Class of 1946)
- Maurice Wilkins, Nobel Prize-winner (Physiology) (Class of 1934)
- Lord Willetts, politician (Class of 1974)
Alumni can also request a copy of a full list of notable alumni, kindly produced by alumnus Peter Handford (1965). For transparency, we do not ignore or exclude infamous alumni.
