Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights, is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge

Cambridge

The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...

, England, founded in 1883 and run by the students of Cambridge University

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

.

The club grew in prominence in the 1960s as a hotbed of comedy

Comedy

Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 and satire

Satire

Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...

. Having established a tradition of performing at the annual Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the club entered the mainstream when its members formed half of Beyond the Fringe

Beyond the Fringe

Beyond the Fringe was a British comedy stage revue written and performed by Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett, and Jonathan Miller. It played in London's West End and then on New York's Broadway in the early 1960s, and is widely regarded as seminal to the rise of satire in 1960s Britain.-The...

, the hugely popular stage revue which toured Britain and America in 1960. The 1963 revue then followed in the footsteps of Beyond the Fringe, appearing in Edinburgh and London's West End

West End theatre

West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...

, before travelling to New Zealand and the United States, where it made appearances on Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 and The Ed Sullivan Show

The Ed Sullivan Show

The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....

 and received a full-page review in Time Magazine. Over the next decade, Footlights and its members came to dominate British comedy, creating and starring in shows such as I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again

I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again

I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again was a BBC radio comedy programme which originated from the Cambridge University Footlights revue Cambridge Circus...

, At Last the 1948 Show

At Last the 1948 Show

At Last the 1948 Show is a satirical TV show made by David Frost's company, Paradine Productions , in association with Rediffusion London...

 and That Was The Week That Was

That Was The Week That Was

That Was The Week That Was, also known as TW3, is a satirical television comedy programme that was shown on BBC Television in 1962 and 1963. It was devised, produced and directed by Ned Sherrin and presented by David Frost...

, forming comedy groups such as Monty Python

Monty Python

Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...

 and The Goodies

The Goodies

The Goodies are a trio of British comedians who created, wrote, and starred in a surreal British television comedy series called The Goodies during the 1970s and early 1980s combining sketches and situation comedy.-Honours:All three Goodies now have OBEs...

, and generally fuelling the Satire boom

Satire boom

The satire boom is a general term to describe the emergence of a generation of English satirical writers, journalists and performers at the end of the 1950s. The satire boom is often regarded as having begun with the first performance of Beyond the Fringe on 22 August 1960 and ending around...

.

Footlights has since reinforced its position at the heart of British comedy. The 1981 revue won the inaugural Comedy Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, featured in Peter's Friends

Peter's Friends

Peter's Friends is a 1992 British comedy-drama film written by Rita Rudner and her husband Martin Bergman, and directed and produced by Kenneth Branagh....

, a movie about a group of middle-aged friends who performed with Footlights during their student days, and spawned Fry and Laurie

Fry and Laurie

Fry and Laurie, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, were a successful English comedy double act, mostly active in the 1980s and 1990s. Having met in 1980 through mutual friend Emma Thompson , Fry and Laurie have since collaborated on numerous projects together, including Jeeves and Wooster, in which...

, the first in a long line of popular double act

Double act

A double act, also known as a comedy duo, is a comic pairing in which humor is derived from the uneven relationship between two partners, usually of the same gender, age, ethnic origin and profession, but drastically different personalities or behavior...

s formed at the club.

Today, Footlights is recognised as a finishing school for many of Britain's most well-known comic entertainers. During term, Footlights produce the regular and very popular Smokers - an informal mixture of sketches

Sketch comedy

A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...

 and stand-up

Stand-up comedy

Stand-up comedy is a comedic art form. Usually, a comedian performs in front of a live audience, speaking directly to them. Their performances are sometimes filmed for later release via DVD, the internet, and television...

 - at the ADC Theatre

ADC Theatre

The ADC Theatre is a theatre in Cambridge, England and also a department of the University of Cambridge. It is located in Park Street, north off Jesus Lane. The theatre is owned by the Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club , but is currently run as the smallest department of the university,...

. The club also performs plays, pantomimes and sketch shows. Outside of term, Footlights often go on tour, performing their best new material in the West End

West End theatre

West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...

 and abroad.

For information about individual Footlights revues, see Cambridge Footlights Revue

Cambridge Footlights Revue

The Cambridge Footlights Revue is an annual revue by the Footlights Club - a group of comic writer-performers at the University of Cambridge. Two of the more notable revues are detailed below.-"A Clump of Plinths" — "Cambridge Circus":...

.

Famous members

The careers of many prominent figures in the world of entertainment began in Footlights — while prominent figures in other industries also took part in Footlights. They include:

Name	Birth	Death	Career
Douglas Adams Douglas Adams Douglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...	1952	2001	Comedy writer, known for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy series created by Douglas Adams. Originally a radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1978, it was later adapted to other formats, and over several years it gradually became an international multi-media phenomenon...
Clive Anderson Clive Anderson Clive Anderson is a British former barrister, best known for being a comedy writer as well as a radio and television presenter in the United Kingdom...	1952	—	Comedian, television presenter, barrister
David Armand David Armand David Armand is an English comedian, actor and writer who has performed on stage, film, radio and most notably, television, where the shows he has appeared in include Fast and Loose , How Not To Live Your Life, Pulling, The Armstrong and Miller Show, Swinging, and Peep Show.He is one of the...	1977	—	Comedian, actor, member of The Hollow Men The Hollow Men (comedy troupe) The Hollow Men are an English sketch comedy group consisting of David Armand, Nick Tanner, Rupert Russell, and Sam Spedding. The Hollow Men is also the title of their TV show broadcast in the United States by Comedy Central. The show follows the kind of silliness from sketch comedy shows like Monty...
Alexander Armstrong Alexander Armstrong (comedian) Alexander Henry Fenwick Armstrong is a British comedian, actor and television presenter.-Early life and career:Armstrong was born in Rothbury, Northumberland, the youngest of three children, to Henry Angus Armstrong and his wife Emma Virginia Peronnet Thompson-McCausland, daughter of Lucius...	1970	—	Comedian, television presenter, half of Armstrong and Miller Armstrong and Miller Armstrong and Miller is a comedy sketch television show that aired between 1997 and 2001 featuring Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller, known together as Armstrong and Miller...
Pete Atkin Pete Atkin Pete Atkin is a British singer-songwriter and radio producer notable for his 1970s musical collaborations with Clive James and for producing the BBC Radio 4 series This Sceptred Isle.-Early life:...	1945	—	Singer-songwriter, radio producer, known for This Sceptred Isle This Sceptred Isle This Sceptred Isle is a BBC radio series about the history of the lands and peoples of the British Isles. It was produced by Pete Atkin and broadcast in 1995 twice each day --- in the morning and late at night --- on Radio 4...
Richard Ayoade Richard Ayoade Richard Ellef Ayoade is a British comedian, actor, writer and director best known for his role as Maurice Moss in The IT Crowd.Ayoade was born an only child to a Norwegian mother, Dagny , and a Nigerian father, Layide Ade Laditi Ayoade. Ayoade studied at St...	1977	—	Comedian, actor, director
James Bachman James Bachman James Bachman is an English comedian, actor and writer.He has written for many U.K. radio and television programmes, including That Mitchell and Webb Look , That Mitchell and Webb Sound , Popetown , and Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway...	1972	—	Comedian, actor, writer
David Baddiel David Baddiel David Lionel Baddiel is an English comedian, novelist and television presenter.-Early life:Baddiel was born in New York, and moved to England when he was four months old. His father, Colin Brian Baddiel, was a Welsh research chemist with Unilever before being made redundant in the 1980s, after...	1964	—	Comedian, novelist, television presenter, half of Newman and Baddiel Newman and Baddiel in Pieces Newman and Baddiel in Pieces is a sketch comedy television show written by and starring comedians Robert Newman and David Baddiel, produced by Harry Thompson, and broadcast on BBC Two in 1993....
Morwenna Banks Morwenna Banks Morwenna Banks is a British comedy actress, writer and producer.Banks is perhaps best known in the UK as a cast member of the British Channel 4 comedy series Absolutely, where her best-known character was a schoolgirl who sat on the edge of a desk.She appeared as the Keeper of the Rules in the...	1964	—	Comedian, actor
Humphrey Barclay Humphrey Barclay Humphrey Barclay is a comedy executive and producer.-Career:His first foray into show business was via Cambridge Footlights revues where he appeared alongside Tim Brooke-Taylor, Bill Oddie, John Cleese, Graham Chapman, David Hatch, Jonathan Lynn, Jo Kendall and Miriam Margolyes...	1941	—	Comedy executive, producer of I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again was a BBC radio comedy programme which originated from the Cambridge University Footlights revue Cambridge Circus...
Sir Brian Barder Brian Barder Sir Brian Leon Barder, KCMG is a retired British diplomat; and subsequently blogger and civil liberties advocate.-Life and career:Brian Barder was born in Bristol, the son of Harry and Vivien Barder...	1934	—	Diplomat, popular blogger
Sacha Baron Cohen Sacha Baron Cohen Sacha Noam Baron Cohen is an English stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and voice artist. He is most widely known for his portrayal of three unorthodox fictional characters: Ali G, Borat, and Brüno...	1971	—	Comedy writer and performer, a.k.a. Ali G Ali G Ali G is a satirical fictional character invented and performed by English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. Originally appearing on Channel 4's Eleven O'Clock show, Ali G is the title character of Channel 4's Da Ali G Show, original episodes of which aired in 2000 and on HBO in 2003–2004, and is the... , Borat Borat Borat Sagdiyev is a satirical fictional character invented and performed by English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen...  and Brüno Bruno (character) Brüno Gehard , sometimes written as Bruno and Brueno, is a fictional character portrayed by English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. The character, a flamboyantly gay Austrian fashion reporter, first appeared during short sketches on The Paramount Comedy Channel in 1998, before reappearing on Da Ali G...
Tom Basden Tom Basden Tom Basden is a British actor and comedy writer, and a member of the British four man sketch group Cowards. He has written and performed extensively for comedy shows on the BBC and Channel 4 and often collaborates in two-man shows with fellow Cowards member Tim Key.-Education:Basden was educated...	1981	—	Comedy writer and performer, singer-songwriter, member of Cowards Cowards Cowards are a British four-man comedy act, composed of Tim Key, Stefan Golaszewski, Tom Basden and Lloyd Woolf.-History:Having all studied at Cambridge University and/or been involved in Footlights , Cowards formed in October 2004 and began performing their sketches live. They performed a new hour...
Robert Bathurst Robert Bathurst Robert Guy Bathurst is an English actor. Bathurst was born in the Gold Coast in 1957, where his father was working as a management consultant. His family moved to Dublin, Ireland, in 1959 and Bathurst was enrolled at an Anglican boarding school...	1957	—	Actor
Sir Cecil Beaton Cecil Beaton Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton, CBE was an English fashion and portrait photographer, diarist, painter, interior designer and an Academy Award-winning stage and costume designer for films and the theatre...	1904	1980	Photographer, interior designer, stage and costume designer
Peter Bennett-Jones Peter Bennett-Jones Peter Bennett-Jones is a British TV producer and agent best known as the former owner of Tiger Aspect. He has also represented actors such as Rowan Atkinson and Harry Enfield with his company PBJ Management....	1956	—	Television producer and agent, co-founder of Tiger Aspect Tiger Aspect Productions Tiger Aspect Productions is a British television production company, particularly noted for its situation comedies. Co-founded by producer Peter Bennett-Jones, its productions have included popular hits such as The Vicar of Dibley and Mr. Bean...  and Comic Relief Comic Relief Comic Relief is an operating British charity, founded in 1985 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Lenny Henry in response to famine in Ethiopia. The highlight of Comic Relief's appeal is Red Nose Day, a biennial telethon held in March, alternating with sister project Sport Relief...
Martin Bergman Martin Bergman Martin Bergman is a British producer, writer and director notable for working in Hollywood.After leaving Cambridge University in 1979, where he was president of the Footlights, Bergman produced several live arena shows with his Australian partner Michael Edgley, including the world tour of ice...	1957	—	Producer, writer, director
John Bird John Bird (actor) John Bird is an English satirist, actor and comedian.-Early life:Born in Bulwell, Nottingham, England, and educated at High Pavement Grammar School, Nottingham, Bird briefly joined the Socialist Party of Great Britain, while still at school...	1936	—	Comedian, actor, satirist, member of Bremner, Bird and Fortune Bremner, Bird and Fortune Bremner, Bird and Fortune is an award-winning satirical British television programme produced by Vera Productions for Channel Four, uniting the longstanding satirical team of John Bird and John Fortune with the satirical impressionist Rory Bremner.The show started in 1999. The fourteenth series...
Simon Bird Simon Bird Simon Antony Bird is an actor, writer and comedian. He is best known for playing Will McKenzie in E4’s BAFTA-winning TV comedy The Inbetweeners.-Early life:...	1984	—	Comedian, actor
Timothy Birdsall Timothy Birdsall Timothy Birdsall was an English cartoonist.Birdsall appeared on the BBC’s That Was The Week That Was. He was shown behind a glass panel improvising drawings on it with an ink-marker. While at Cambridge, he illustrated Granta. He also contributed to Private Eye, The Spectator, and The Sunday Times...	1936	1963	Cartoonist
Christopher Booker Christopher Booker Christopher John Penrice Booker is an English journalist and author. In 1961, he was one of the founders of the magazine Private Eye, and has contributed to it for over four decades. He has been a columnist for the Sunday Telegraph since 1990...	1937	—	Journalist, author, founding editor of Private Eye Private Eye Private Eye is a fortnightly British satirical and current affairs magazine, edited by Ian Hislop.Since its first publication in 1961, Private Eye has been a prominent critic and lampooner of public figures and entities that it deemed guilty of any of the sins of incompetence, inefficiency,...
Leslie Bricusse Leslie Bricusse Leslie Bricusse is an English composer, lyricist, and playwright.Although best known for his partnership with Anthony Newley, Bricusse has worked with many other composers. He was educated at University College School in London and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge...	1931	—	Lyricist, composer, playwright, known for Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is a 1971 musical film adaptation of the 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, directed by Mel Stuart, and starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. The film tells the story of Charlie Bucket as he receives a golden ticket and visits Willy...
Eleanor Bron Eleanor Bron Eleanor Bron is an English stage, film and television actress and author.-Early life and family:Bron was born in 1938 in Stanmore, Middlesex, to a Jewish family of Eastern European origin...	1938	—	Actress, writer
Tim Brooke-Taylor Tim Brooke-Taylor Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor OBE is an English comic actor. He became active in performing in comedy sketches while at Cambridge University, and became President of the Footlights club, touring internationally with the Footlights revue in 1964...	1940	—	Comedy writer and performer, member of The Goodies The Goodies The Goodies are a trio of British comedians who created, wrote, and starred in a surreal British television comedy series called The Goodies during the 1970s and early 1980s combining sketches and situation comedy.-Honours:All three Goodies now have OBEs...
Gus Brown Gus Brown Gus Brown is an English actor and comedian.He is half of the double act Laurence & Gus, alongside fellow comedian and writer Laurence Howarth...	1974	—	Comedian, actor, half of Laurence and Gus Laurence Howarth Laurence Howarth is an English comic actor and writer. He has appeared in one episode each of the TV series After You've Gone , Hyperdrive , Blessed , The Robinsons , My Hero and Dark Ages...
Spencer Brown	1978	—	Comedian
Robert Buckman	1948	—	Comedian, writer, television presenter, columnist, physician
Tony Buffery Tony Buffery Tony Buffery is a British actor, comedian, and writer – apart from having a career in academic psychology.Buffery got his start in the Cambridge Footlights, but his place in the London Footlights Revue was taken over by Graham Chapman when Buffery chose an academic career over one in...	—	—	Psychologist, actor, comedian, writer, known for Twice a Fortnight Twice a Fortnight Twice a Fortnight, which was made in 1967, was a British sketch comedy television series with Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie, Jonathan Lynn and Tony Buffery....
John Cameron John Cameron (musician) John Cameron is a British composer, arranger, conductor and musician. He is well-known for his many film, TV and stage credits, and for his contributions to 'pop' recordings, notably those by Donovan, Cilla Black and the group Hot Chocolate...	1944	—	Composer, arranger, conductor, musician
Jon Canter Jon Canter Jon Canter is an English television comedy writer for Lenny Henry and other leading comedians. Canter was born and brought up in the Jewish community of Golders Green, North London and studied law at the University of Cambridge where he became President of Footlights.After a spell in advertising...	1953	—	Comedy scriptwriter, principal writer for Lenny Henry Lenny Henry Lenworth George "Lenny" Henry, is a British actor, writer, comedian and occasional television presenter.- Early life :...
Graham Chapman Graham Chapman Graham Arthur Chapman was a British comedian, physician, writer, actor, and one of the six members of the Monty Python comedy troupe.-Early life and education:...	1941	1989	Comedian, actor, writer, member of Monty Python Monty Python Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
John Cleese John Cleese John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...	1939	—	Comedian, actor, writer, member of Monty Python Monty Python Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
Olivia Colman Olivia Colman Olivia Colman is an English actress, best known for her supporting roles in various comedy shows, such as Sophie Chapman in Peep Show and Harriet Schulenburg in Green Wing. She trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, and has appeared in radio, television and theatre.-Personal life:Colman...	1974	—	Comedian, actor
Peter Cook Peter Cook Peter Edward Cook was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's...	1937	1995	Comedian, writer, satirist, member of Beyond the Fringe Beyond the Fringe Beyond the Fringe was a British comedy stage revue written and performed by Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett, and Jonathan Miller. It played in London's West End and then on New York's Broadway in the early 1960s, and is widely regarded as seminal to the rise of satire in 1960s Britain.-The...
Joe Craig Joe Craig Joe Craig is an English writer, children's novelist and musician.He is best known for the Jimmy Coates series of books, which is sometimes compared to the work of Jack Heath or Anthony Horowitz , and described in several reviews as 'The Bourne Identity for kids'.-Biography:Craig was born and grew...	1980	—	Novelist, musician, known for the Jimmy Coates Jimmy Coates Jimmy Coates is a series of children's books written by the English author Joe Craig.. The books have been published in many countries around the world but were never widely available in the United States.... series
Thurston Dart Thurston Dart Robert Thurston Dart , was a British musicologist, conductor and keyboard player. From 1964 he was Professor of Music at King's College London....	1921	1971	Keyboard player, conductor, musicologist
Russell Davies Russell Davies Robert Russell Davies , known as Russell Davies, is a British journalist and broadcaster. He presents a Sunday radio programme on BBC Radio 2 which spotlights popular song, as well as Brain of Britain on Radio 4.-Background:...	1946	—	Journalist, broadcaster, presenter of Brain of Britain Brain of Britain Brain of Britain is a BBC radio general knowledge quiz, broadcast on BBC Radio 4.-History:It began as a slot in What Do You Know? in 1953 before becoming a programme in its own right in 1967. It was chaired by Franklin Engelmann until his death in 1972.-Format:The format of the quiz is simple...
Hugh Dennis Hugh Dennis Peter Hugh Dennis is an English actor, comedian, writer, impressionist and voice-over artist, best known for his work with comedy partner Steve Punt. He is also known for his position as a permanent panelist on the TV comedy show Mock The Week...	1962	—	Comedian, actor, writer, voice-over artist, half of Punt and Dennis Punt and Dennis Punt and Dennis are a comedy double act consisting of Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis.They came to public attention as one half of The Mary Whitehouse Experience, a comedy show on BBC Radio 1 which then transferred to television...
Penny Dwyer Penny Dwyer Penelope Rosemary Dwyer was a British comedy writer and performer, noted for being a member of the Cambridge Footlights revue The Cellar Tapes which won the inaugural Perrier Comedy Awards in 1981...	1953	2003	Comedian, actor, writer, metallurgist
Jimmy Edwards Jimmy Edwards Jimmy Edwards DFC was an English comedic script writer and comedy actor on both radio and television, best known as Pa Glum in Take It From Here and as the headmaster 'Professor' James Edwards in Whack-O!-Biography:...	1920	1988	Comedy actor, writer, star of Take It From Here Take It From Here Take It From Here was a British radio comedy programme broadcast by the BBC between 1948 and 1960. It was written by Frank Muir and Denis Norden, and starred Jimmy Edwards, Dick Bentley and Joy Nichols... and Whack-O!
Mark Evans Mark Evans (comedian/writer) Mark Evans is a Welsh comedian, actor, and writer.He has written for many U.K. radio and television programmes, including That Mitchell and Webb Look , The Late Edition , That Mitchell and Webb Sound , Popetown , and Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway...	—	—	Comedian, actor, writer
Julian Fellowes Julian Fellowes Julian Alexander Kitchener-Fellowes, Baron Fellowes of West Stafford, DL , known as Julian Fellowes, is an English actor, novelist, film director and screenwriter, as well as a Conservative peer.-Early life:...	1949	—	Screenwriter, director, actor, novelist, known for Gosford Park Gosford Park Gosford Park is a 2001 British-American mystery comedy-drama film directed by Robert Altman and written by Julian Fellowes. The film stars an ensemble cast, which includes Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Eileen Atkins, Alan Bates, and Michael Gambon... and Downton Abbey Downton Abbey Downton Abbey is a British television period drama series, produced by NBC Universal-owned British media company Carnival Films for the ITV network. The series is set during the late Edwardian era and the First World War on the fictional estate of Downton Abbey in Yorkshire, and features an...
Peter Fincham Peter Fincham Peter Fincham is a British television producer and executive, currently the Director of Television for the ITV network. He was also formerly the Controller of BBC One, the primary television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation, until his resignation on 5 October 2007, following...	1956	—	Television producer and executive, Director of Television at ITV ITV ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
John Finnemore John Finnemore (writer) John David Finnemore is a comedy writer and actor best known as a frequent guest on The Now Show and for the radio sitcom Cabin Pressure.-Education:...	1977	—	Comedy writer and performer
John Fortune John Fortune John Fortune is a British satirist, comedian writer and actor, best known for his work with John Bird and Rory Bremner on the TV series Bremner, Bird and Fortune. He was educated at Bristol Cathedral School and King's College, Cambridge, where he was to meet and form a lasting friendship with John...	1939	—	Comedian, actor, satirist, member of Bremner, Bird and Fortune Bremner, Bird and Fortune Bremner, Bird and Fortune is an award-winning satirical British television programme produced by Vera Productions for Channel Four, uniting the longstanding satirical team of John Bird and John Fortune with the satirical impressionist Rory Bremner.The show started in 1999. The fourteenth series...
Michael Frayn Michael Frayn Michael J. Frayn is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce Noises Off and the dramas Copenhagen and Democracy...	1933	—	Playwright, novelist, known for Noises Off Noises Off Noises Off is a 1982 play by English playwright Michael Frayn. The idea for it was born in 1970, when Frayn was standing in the wings watching a performance of Chinamen, a farce that he had written for Lynn Redgrave... and Copenhagen Copenhagen (play) Copenhagen is a play by Michael Frayn, based around an event that occurred in Copenhagen in 1941, a meeting between the physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg. It debuted in London in 1998...
Robin French Robin French Robin French is a playwright, film and television writer and songwriter living in London.-Background:French was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham and studied Modern and Medieval Languages at Selwyn College, Cambridge University where he graduated with first-class honours in 2001.While...	1978	—	Playwright, scriptwriter, songwriter
Sir David Frost David Frost (broadcaster) Sir David Paradine Frost, OBE is a British journalist, comedian, writer, media personality and daytime TV game show host best known for his two decades as host of Through the Keyhole and serious interviews with various political figures, the most notable being Richard Nixon...	1939	—	Television presenter, interviewer, satirist, star of The Frost Report The Frost Report The Frost Report was a satirical television show hosted by David Frost. It ran for 29 episodes from 1966 to 1967. It is most notable for introducing John Cleese, Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett to television and also launching the careers of several comedians and performers.The main cast were...
Stephen Fry Stephen Fry Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...	1957	—	Comedian, writer, actor, novelist, half of Fry and Laurie Fry and Laurie Fry and Laurie, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, were a successful English comedy double act, mostly active in the 1980s and 1990s. Having met in 1980 through mutual friend Emma Thompson , Fry and Laurie have since collaborated on numerous projects together, including Jeeves and Wooster, in which...
Graeme Garden Graeme Garden David Graeme Garden OBE is a Scottish author, actor, comedian, artist and television presenter, who first became known as a member of The Goodies.-Early life and beginnings in comedy:...	1943	—	Comedy writer and performer, illustrator, member of The Goodies The Goodies The Goodies are a trio of British comedians who created, wrote, and starred in a surreal British television comedy series called The Goodies during the 1970s and early 1980s combining sketches and situation comedy.-Honours:All three Goodies now have OBEs...
Bamber Gascoigne Bamber Gascoigne Bamber Gascoigne, FRSL is a British television presenter and author, most known for being the original quizmaster on University Challenge.-Biography:...	1935	—	Television presenter, author, known for University Challenge University Challenge University Challenge is a British quiz programme that has aired since 1962. The format is based on the American show College Bowl, which ran on NBC radio from 1953 to 1957, and on NBC television from 1959 to 1970....
Mel Giedroyc Mel Giedroyc Mel Giedroyc is an English television presenter, actress, and writer.-Mel and Sue:Giedroyc is best known for presenting comedy items alongside Sue Perkins. The two women met whilst students at Cambridge and both were members of the famous Footlights comedy club.As Mel and Sue, the duo were...	1968	—	Actor, writer, television presenter, half of Mel and Sue Mel and Sue Mel and Sue are a British comedy duo, consisting of Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins.-Early career:The two women met whilst students at the University of Cambridge in England where both were members of the famous comedy club Footlights.-Television:Their television breakthrough came on the French &...
W. S. Gilbert W. S. Gilbert Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...	1836	1911	Dramatist, librettist, poet, illustrator, half of Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
Stefan Golaszewski Stefan Golaszewski Stefan Golaszewski is an English writer, performer, director and pop singer. He is part of comedy sketch group Cowards.-Career:Golaszewski was the Cambridge Footlights President from 2002-3....	1982	—	Comedian, writer, director, member of Cowards Cowards Cowards are a British four-man comedy act, composed of Tim Key, Stefan Golaszewski, Tom Basden and Lloyd Woolf.-History:Having all studied at Cambridge University and/or been involved in Footlights , Cowards formed in October 2004 and began performing their sketches live. They performed a new hour...
Matt Green Matt Green (actor) Matt Green is an English actor and comedian. He was the President of the Cambridge Footlights from 1999-2000. Since graduating in 2000 he has worked as an actor and comedian based in London.- Stand-up comedy :Matt started performing stand up comedy in 2003...	1979	—	Comedian, writer, actor
Germaine Greer Germaine Greer Germaine Greer is an Australian writer, academic, journalist and scholar of early modern English literature, widely regarded as one of the most significant feminist voices of the later 20th century....	1939	—	Writer, broadcaster, academic
John Grillo John Grillo John Grillo is a British actor and playwright who has appeared in many film and television productions....	1942	—	Actor, playwright
Lawrence Grossmith Lawrence Grossmith Lawrence Grossmith was a British actor, the son of Gilbert and Sullivan performer George Grossmith and the brother of actor George Grossmith, Jr.-Life and career:...	1877	1944	Actor
Nick Hancock	1962	—	Comedian, actor, television presenter, known for Room 101 Room 101 (TV series) Room 101 is a BBC comedy television series based on the radio series of the same name, in which celebrities were invited to discuss their pet hates and persuade the host to consign them to a fate worse than death in Room 101, named after the torture room in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, which is...
Norman Hartnell Norman Hartnell Sir Norman Bishop Hartnell, KCVO was a British fashion designer. Royal Warrant as Dressmaker to HM The Queen 1940, subsequently Royal Warrant as Dressmaker to HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother...	1901	1979	Fashion designer
Sir David Hatch David Hatch Sir David Hatch was involved in production and management at BBC Radio, where he held many executive positions, including Head of Light Entertainment , Controller of BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 4 and later Managing Director of BBC Radio.- Education :He attended St John's School, Leatherhead and...	1939	2007	Broadcasting manager, producer of Just a Minute Just a Minute Just a Minute is a BBC Radio 4 radio comedy panel game chaired by Nicholas Parsons. Its first transmission on Radio 4 was on 22 December 1967, three months after the station's launch. The Radio 4 programme won a Gold Sony Radio Academy Award in 2003.... and I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, sometimes abbreviated to ISIHAC or Clue, is a BBC radio comedy panel game broadcast since 11 April 1972 at the rate of one or two series each year , transmitted on BBC Radio 4, with occasional repeats on BBC Radio 4 Extra and the BBC's World Service...
Natalie Haynes Natalie Haynes Natalie Haynes is a British comedian and writer. She has been performing stand-up comedy since 1994 and was a member of Footlights at Cambridge University where she read Classics at Christ's College...	1974	—	Comedian, writer
Tony Hendra Tony Hendra Tony Hendra is an English satirist and writer who has worked mostly in the United States. Educated at St Albans School and Cambridge University, he was a member of the Cambridge University Footlights revue in 1962, alongside John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Tim Brooke-Taylor.-Career:In 1964 Hendra...	1941	—	Satirist, writer, creator of Spitting Image Spitting Image Spitting Image is a British satirical puppet show that aired on the ITV network from 1984 to 1996. It was produced by Spitting Image Productions for Central Television. The series was nominated for 10 BAFTA Awards, winning one for editing in 1989....
Kit Hesketh-Harvey Kit Hesketh-Harvey Christopher John "Kit" Hesketh Harvey is a British musical comic performer, translator, composer and scriptwriter.Born in Nyasaland , he was educated as senior chorister at Canterbury Cathedral and then Tonbridge School in Kent before moving on as a choral scholar under John Rutter to Clare...	1957	—	Comedy writer and performer, half of Kit and The Widow Kit and The Widow Kit and The Widow are a double act, performing humorous songs in the vein of Tom Lehrer or Flanders and Swann; they also cite Anna Russell as an influence. They are Kit Hesketh-Harvey and Richard Sisson . They have performed at the Edinburgh Fringe and in West End theatres, and accept private...
Tom Hollander Tom Hollander Thomas Anthony "Tom" Hollander is a British actor who has appeared in productions such as Enigma, Gosford Park, Cambridge Spies, Pride and Prejudice, Pirates of the Caribbean, In the Loop, Valkyrie and Hanna.-Early life:Tom Hollander was born in Bristol and raised in Oxford, Oxfordshire, the son...	1967	—	Actor, co-creator and star of Rev. Rev. (TV series) Rev. is a British television sitcom produced by Big Talk Productions. The show premiered on BBC Two on 28 June 2010. The show's working titles were The City Vicar and Handle With Prayer...
Matthew Holness Matthew Holness Matthew Holness is an English comedian and actor from Whitstable in Kent. He attended Chaucer Technology School in Canterbury and read English at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he was vice-president of the Cambridge Footlights...	1977	—	Comedian
Alex Horne Alex Horne Alex Horne is a British comedian.He was educated at Lancing College and the University of Cambridge, where he was a member of Footlights.-Career:...	1978	—	Comedian
Kenneth Horne Kenneth Horne Kenneth Horne was an English comedian and businessman. The son of a clergyman and politician, he combined a successful business career with regular broadcasting for the BBC. His first hit series Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh written with his co-star Richard Murdoch arose out of his wartime service as...	1907	1969	Comedian, businessman, star of Round the Horne Round the Horne Round the Horne was a BBC Radio comedy programme, transmitted in four series of weekly episodes from 1965 until 1968. The series was created by Barry Took and Marty Feldman - with others contributing to later series after Feldman returned to performing — and starred Kenneth Horne, with Kenneth...
Claude Hulbert Claude Hulbert Claude Noel Hulbert was a British comic actor. He was the younger brother of Jack Hulbert. Like his brother, he was Cambridge educated and was a member of the Footlights comedy club as an undergraduate....	1900	1964	Comic actor
Jack Hulbert Jack Hulbert John Norman "Jack" Hulbert was a British actor, specialising primarily in comedy productions.-Biography:Born in Ely, Cambridgeshire, he was the elder and more successful brother of Claude. He was educated at Cambridge and appeared in many shows and revues, mainly with the Cambridge Footlights. He...	1892	1978	Actor
Tristram Hunt Tristram Hunt Tristram Julian William Hunt, FRHistS MP is a British politician, historian, broadcaster and newspaper columnist, who is currently the Member of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent Central. He also teaches and lectures on Modern British History at Queen Mary, University of London in Mile End, East London...	1974	—	Politician, historian, broadcaster, newspaper columnist
Sir Nicholas Hytner Nicholas Hytner Sir Nicholas Robert Hytner is an English film and theatre producer and director. He has been the artistic director of London's National Theatre since 2003.-Biography:...	1956	—	Film and theatre producer, Director of the National Theatre Royal National Theatre The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
Eric Idle Eric Idle Eric Idle is an English comedian, actor, author, singer, writer, and comedic composer. He was as a member of the British comedy group Monty Python, a member of the The Rutles on Saturday Night Live and author of the play, Spamalot....	1943	—	Comedian, actor, writer, songwriter, member of Monty Python Monty Python Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
Clive James Clive James Clive James, AM is an Australian author, critic, broadcaster, poet and memoirist, best known for his autobiographical series Unreliable Memoirs, for his chat shows and documentaries on British television and for his prolific journalism...	1939	—	Writer, poet, critic
Jonathan James-Moore Jonathan James-Moore Jonathan James-Moore was an English theatre manager and BBC radio producer and executive.He was born in Worcestershire and educated at Bromsgrove School and Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a degree in engineering and served as Footlights president...	1946	2005	Comedy producer, theatre manager
Peter Jeffrey Peter Jeffrey Peter Jeffrey was a British actor with many roles in television and film.Jeffrey was born in Bristol, the son of Florence Alice and Arthur Winfred Gilbert Jeffrey. He was educated at Harrow School and Pembroke College, Cambridge but had no formal training as an actor...	1929	1999	Actor
Simon Jones Simon Jones (actor) Simon Jones is an English actor, most famous for his appearances in the television and radio series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, in which he played the lead role of Arthur Dent from 1978 to 2005...	1950	—	Actor
Rufus Jones Rufus Jones (actor) Rufus Jones is an English actor, comedian and writer.Rufus is a member of the five-man British comedy sketch group the Dutch Elm Conservatoire. The group were nominated for the prestigious Perrier award at the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe....	1976	—	Comedy writer and performer, member of Dutch Elm Conservatoire Dutch Elm Conservatoire The Dutch Elm Conservatoire is a British sketch comedy group, made up of five writers and actors: Stephen Evans, Jim Field Smith, Rufus Jones, Dan Renton Skinner and Jordan Long.They performed on the comedy circuit in London, Edinburgh and on tour...
Jo Kendall Jo Kendall Jo Kendall is a British actress.She played Desdemona in a production of Othello at the A.D.C. Theatre, Cambridge in 1962.In August 1963 she appeared in the West End in London, New Zealand and Broadway, in the Cambridge University revue Cambridge Circus directed by Humphrey Barclay, alongside Graham...	—	—	Actor
Tim Key Tim Key Tim Key is an English actor, comedy writer, and performance poet. In 2009, he was the winner of the Edinburgh Comedy Award and was also nominated for the Malcolm Hardee Award for Comic Originality.-Edinburgh Fringe:...	1976	—	Comedian, actor, poet, member of Cowards Cowards Cowards are a British four-man comedy act, composed of Tim Key, Stefan Golaszewski, Tom Basden and Lloyd Woolf.-History:Having all studied at Cambridge University and/or been involved in Footlights , Cowards formed in October 2004 and began performing their sketches live. They performed a new hour...
Paul King Paul King (Director) Paul King is a writer and director. He works in television, film and theatre, and specialises in comedy.He graduated from St Catharine's College, Cambridge University with first-class honours in English in 1999...	1978	—	Comedy director, known for The Mighty Boosh The Mighty Boosh The Mighty Boosh is a British comedy troupe featuring comedians Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding. Developed from three stage shows and a six episode radio series, it has since spawned a total of twenty television episodes for BBC Three and two live tours of the UK, as well as two live shows in the...
Matt Kirshen Matt Kirshen Matt Kirshen is a British comedian. Kirshen has performed around the world, including Singapore, Dubai, Holland, Germany, and France. In 2007, he enjoyed a successful run in NBC's Last Comic Standing...	1980	—	Comedian
Ian Lang Ian Lang Ian Bruce Lang, Baron Lang of Monkton PC is a former British Conservative MP for Galloway from 1979 to 1983 and for Galloway and Upper Nithsdale from 1983 to 1997....	1940	—	Politician, business executive
Hugh Latimer Hugh Latimer (actor) Hugh Alexander Forbes Latimer was an English actor and toy maker.He was educated at Oundle and Caius College, Cambridge, where he joined Footlights...	1913	2006	Actor, toymaker
Hugh Laurie Hugh Laurie James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE , better known as Hugh Laurie , is an English actor, voice artist, comedian, writer, musician, recording artist, and director...	1959	—	Comedian, actor, writer, musician, half of Fry and Laurie Fry and Laurie Fry and Laurie, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, were a successful English comedy double act, mostly active in the 1980s and 1990s. Having met in 1980 through mutual friend Emma Thompson , Fry and Laurie have since collaborated on numerous projects together, including Jeeves and Wooster, in which...
John Lloyd John Lloyd (writer) John Hardress Wilfred Lloyd CBE is a British comedy writer and television producer. He is the great nephew of John Hardress Lloyd.-Early life and career:...	1951	—	Comedy writer and producer, creator of Have I Got News for You Have I Got News for You Have I Got News for You is a British television panel show produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC. It is based loosely on the BBC Radio 4 show The News Quiz, and has been broadcast since 1990, currently the BBC's longest-ever running television panel show... and QI QI QI is a British comedy panel game television quiz show created and co-produced by John Lloyd, hosted by Stephen Fry, and featuring permanent panellist Alan Davies. Most of the questions are extremely obscure, making it unlikely that the correct answer will be given...
Jonathan Lynn Jonathan Lynn Jonathan Lynn is an English actor, comedy writer and director. He is best known for being the co-writer of Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister.-Personal life:...	1943	—	Comedy writer, actor, director, creator of Yes, Minister
Miriam Margolyes Miriam Margolyes Miriam Margolyes, OBE is an English actress and voice artist. Her earliest roles were in theatre and after several supporting roles in film and television she won a BAFTA Award for her role in The Age of Innocence .-Early life:...	1941	—	Actor
Dan Mazer Dan Mazer Dan Mazer is a British screenwriter, TV/film producer, and comedian. He is best known as the long-time writing and production partner of Sacha Baron Cohen and has worked with him on such characters as Ali G and Borat...	1971	—	Comedian, producer, screenwriter, known for work with Sacha Baron Cohen
Simon McBurney Simon McBurney Simon Montagu McBurney, OBE is an English actor, writer and director. He is the founder and artistic director of Théâtre de Complicité in England, now called Complicite.-Early life:...	1957	—	Actor, writer, director, founder of Complicite Complicite The British theatre company Complicite was founded in 1983 by Simon McBurney, Annabel Arden, and Marcello Magni. Its original name was Théâtre de Complicité. "The Company's inimitable style of visual and devised theatre [has] an emphasis on strong, corporeal, poetic and surrealist image supporting...
Kevin McCloud Kevin McCloud Kevin McCloud is a British designer, writer and television presenter best known for his work on the Channel 4 series Grand Designs. He lives in a 15th-century farmhouse in Frome, Somerset, with his wife Suzanna "Zani" who runs an online interior decoration business, and their two children, Milo ...	1958	—	Writer, designer, television presenter
Geoffrey McGivern Geoffrey McGivern Geoffrey McGivern is an English actor in film, radio, stage and television. He was born in Balham, South London and grew up in York. There he attended Archbishop Holgate's School, where he was made Head Boy...	1952	—	Comedy actor
Rory McGrath Rory McGrath Patrick Rory McGrath is an English comedian and writer. He is best known for roles in Who Dares Wins, Chelmsford 123, Three Men in a Boat and its successors. He was also a regular panellist on They Think It's All Over....	1956	—	Comedian, co-founder of Hat Trick Productions Hat Trick Productions Hat Trick Productions is a British independent production company that produces television programmes, mainly specialising in comedy.-History:...
Ben Miller Ben Miller Bennet Evan "Ben" Miller is an English comedian, actor and director. He is perhaps best known as one half of comedy double act Armstrong and Miller, along with Alexander Armstrong. Together the pair wrote and starred in Channel 4 sketch show Armstrong and Miller, and the more recent BBC television...	1966	—	Comedian, director, actor, half of Armstrong and Miller Armstrong and Miller Armstrong and Miller is a comedy sketch television show that aired between 1997 and 2001 featuring Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller, known together as Armstrong and Miller...
Sir Jonathan Miller Jonathan Miller Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE is a British theatre and opera director, author, physician, television presenter, humorist and sculptor. Trained as a physician in the late 1950s, he first came to prominence in the 1960s with his role in the comedy revue Beyond the Fringe with fellow writers and...	1934	—	Theatre and opera director, humorist, sculptor, member of Beyond the Fringe Beyond the Fringe Beyond the Fringe was a British comedy stage revue written and performed by Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett, and Jonathan Miller. It played in London's West End and then on New York's Broadway in the early 1960s, and is widely regarded as seminal to the rise of satire in 1960s Britain.-The...
David Mitchell David Mitchell (actor) David James Stuart Mitchell is a British actor, comedian and writer. He is half of the comedy duo Mitchell and Webb, alongside Robert Webb, whom he met at Cambridge University. There they were both part of the Cambridge Footlights, of which Mitchell became President. Together the duo star in the...	1974	—	Comedian, actor, writer, half of Mitchell and Webb Mitchell and Webb Mitchell and Webb are a British comedy double act, comprising David Mitchell and Robert Webb . They are best known for starring in the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show....
Nick Mohammed Nick Mohammed Nick Mohammed is a British comedian, actor and writer.-Early life:Nick Mohammed started his school life at Meanwood C of E primary in Leeds LS7....	1980	—	Comedian, actor, writer
Lucy Montgomery Lucy Montgomery (actor) Lucy Montgomery is an English comedian, actress and writer, best known for her radio and television work.Montgomery is married to fellow comedian Rhys Thomas; they have two daughters – Polly and Rosie Rae – and live in London.-Career:While at Cambridge University, Montgomery was a member of...	1975	—	Comedian, actor, writer
Neil Mullarkey Neil Mullarkey Neil Mullarkey is an English actor, writer and comedian.Mullarkey studied at Robinson College, Cambridge; while he was there he was Junior Treasurer of the Cambridge Footlights in the academic year 1981 to 1982 and was president in the year ending 1983...	1961	—	Comedian, actor, writer, founding member of The Comedy Store Players The Comedy Store Players The Comedy Store Players is a group of improvising comedy performers known for their performances at The Comedy Store in London. The group first came into being in October 1985.Members of the group have included:*Dave Cohen*Jeremy Hardy*Kit Hollerbach...
Jimmy Mulville Jimmy Mulville James Thomas "Jimmy" Mulville is an English comedian, comedy writer, producer and television presenter. Jimmy Mulville is best known for co-founding in 1986 the British independent television production company Hat Trick Productions with Denise O'Donoghue and Rory McGrath...	1955	—	Comedian, writer, television presenter, co-founder of Hat Trick Productions Hat Trick Productions Hat Trick Productions is a British independent production company that produces television programmes, mainly specialising in comedy.-History:...
Simon Munnery Simon Munnery Simon Munnery, also known by his stagenames of Alan Parker: Urban Warrior and The League Against Tedium, is an English comedy writer and experimental standup comedian...	1972	—	Comedian
Richard Murdoch Richard Murdoch Richard Bernard Murdoch was a British comedic radio, film and television performer.Richard Bernard Murdoch attended Charterhouse School. He then appeared in Footlights whilst a student at Pembroke College, Cambridge...	1907	1990	Comic actor
Jon Naismith Jon Naismith Jon Naismith is a producer of a large number of BBC radio shows, primarily comedy, including You'll Have Had Your Tea, The Unbelievable Truth and About a Dog....	1965	—	Comedy producer, creator of The Unbelievable Truth The Unbelievable Truth The Unbelievable Truth is a BBC radio comedy panel game made by Random Entertainment, devised by Graeme Garden and Jon Naismith. It is very similar to the occasional I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue game "Lies, All Lies", which was first played in 1985...
Henry Naylor Henry Naylor Henry Naylor is a British comedy writer and performer, best known for his work with comedy partner Andy Parsons in Parsons and Naylor's Pull-Out Sections....	1968	—	Comedy writer and performer, half of Parsons and Naylor Parsons and Naylor's Pull-Out Sections Parsons and Naylor’s Pull-Out Sections is a BBC Radio 2 satirical comedy show starring Andy Parsons and Henry Naylor. It also stars Richie Webb, and one female "special guest"....
David Nobbs David Nobbs David Gordon Nobbs is an English comedy writer.Following an education at Marlborough College and Cambridge University, Nobbs wrote for many of Britain's comedy performers over the years, including Kenneth Williams, Frankie Howerd, Les Dawson and The Two Ronnies...	1935	—	Comedy writer, creator of the Reggie Perrin The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin is a series of novels which developed into a British sitcom starring Leonard Rossiter in the title role... series
Sir Trevor Nunn Trevor Nunn Sir Trevor Robert Nunn, CBE is an English theatre, film and television director. Nunn has been the Artistic Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and, currently, the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. He has directed musicals and dramas for the stage, as well as opera...	1940	—	Theatre and film producer, Director of the National Theatre Royal National Theatre The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
Des O'Connor Desmond O'Connor (cabaret performer) Desmond O'Connor is an English ukulele playing cabaret and burlesque performer.-Career:Des O'Connor was a member of the Cambridge Footlights at the same time as Sacha Baron Cohen, Mitchell and Webb, Richard Ayoade and Matthew Holness. After a year away from Cambridge, he became musical director of...	1972	—	Television presenter, burlesque performer, musician, lyricist
Michael O'Donnell Michael O'Donnell Michael O'Donnell , is a British physician, journalist, author, and broadcaster.He became a full-time writer after working for 12 years as a doctor. On BBC Radio Four he was chairman of My Word! and wrote and presented Relative Values...	1928	—	Journalist, author, broadcaster, physician
Bill Oddie Bill Oddie William "Bill" Edgar Oddie OBE is an English author, actor, comedian, artist, naturalist and musician, who became famous as one of The Goodies....	1941	—	Comedian, actor, musician, naturalist, television presenter, member of The Goodies The Goodies The Goodies are a trio of British comedians who created, wrote, and starred in a surreal British television comedy series called The Goodies during the 1970s and early 1980s combining sketches and situation comedy.-Honours:All three Goodies now have OBEs...
John Oliver John Oliver (comedian) John Oliver is a British stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. He is best known for his work on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, for which he won an Emmy in 2009. He also plays a recurring character, Professor Ian Duncan, on the television series Community...	1977	—	Comedian, writer, television personality of Daily Show fame
Andy Parsons Andy Parsons Andy Parsons is an English comedian and writer, who regularly appears on Mock the Week. With comedy partner Henry Naylor, he has written and presented nine seasons of Parsons and Naylor’s Pull-Out Sections for BBC Radio 2.-Early life:...	1967	—	Comedian, comedy writer, half of Parsons and Naylor Parsons and Naylor's Pull-Out Sections Parsons and Naylor’s Pull-Out Sections is a BBC Radio 2 satirical comedy show starring Andy Parsons and Henry Naylor. It also stars Richie Webb, and one female "special guest"....
Sue Perkins Sue Perkins Sue Perkins is an English comedienne, broadcaster, actress, and writer.-Education:Perkins was educated at Croham Hurst School, an independent school for girls in Croydon in South London, at the same time as the BBC Breakfast News presenter Susanna Reid...	1969	—	Comedian, actor, writer, television presenter, half of Mel and Sue Mel and Sue Mel and Sue are a British comedy duo, consisting of Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins.-Early career:The two women met whilst students at the University of Cambridge in England where both were members of the famous comedy club Footlights.-Television:Their television breakthrough came on the French &...
Steve Punt Steve Punt Stephen Punt is a British writer, comedian and actor, best known for his long-time comedy partnership with Hugh Dennis. Punt lives in Wimbledon with his girlfriend and two children.-Life and career:...	1962	—	Comedian, actor, writer, half of Punt and Dennis Punt and Dennis Punt and Dennis are a comedy double act consisting of Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis.They came to public attention as one half of The Mary Whitehouse Experience, a comedy show on BBC Radio 1 which then transferred to television...
Jan Ravens Jan Ravens Janet "Jan" Ravens is an English actress and impressionist, famous for her voices on Spitting Image and Dead Ringers.-Early life:...	1958	—	Actor, impressionist
Griff Rhys Jones Griff Rhys Jones Griffith "Griff" Rhys Jones is a Welsh comedian, writer, actor, television presenter and personality. Jones came to national attention in the early 1980s for his work in the BBC television comedy sketch shows Not the Nine O'Clock News and Alas Smith and Jones along with his comedy partner Mel Smith...	1953	—	Comedian, actor, writer, co-founder of Talkback Talkback Productions Talkback Productions was formed in 1981 by Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones. The company is one of the UK’s leading production companies and part of the RTL Group, a major European broadcast and content company.... , half of Alas Smith and Jones Alas Smith and Jones Alas Smith and Jones is a British comedy sketch television series featuring Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones. It was broadcast on the BBC from 1984 to 1998...
Blake Ritson Blake Ritson -Early life:Blake attended the Dolphin School in Reading, Berkshire until 1993, before going to St Paul's School, an independent school for boys in Barnes in West London on an academic scholarship. He then attended the University of Cambridge, where he studied English and Medieval Italian, Dante...	1980	—	Actor, director, writer
John-Luke Roberts John-Luke Roberts Luke Roberts , better known as John-Luke Roberts is a British comedy writer and performer, most noted for his BBC 7 sketch series Spats....	1985	—	Comedy writer and performer, known for Spats Spats (radio series) Spats is a British radio comedy sketch series broadcast on digital radio station BBC 7. The series is written and presented by John-Luke Roberts , with additional material written by Nadia Kamil. Kamil also stars in the show, alongside Stephen Critchlow and Clare Wille...
William Seaward William Seaward William Vincent Seaward is a director and actor. Co-founder and director of The Strolling Theatricals, a theatre company based in the United Kingdom.-Early life:Born in London to two barristers, Martin and Siobhan Seaward, he is the eldest of 4 siblings...	1986	—	Actor, director, founder of The Strolling Theatricals The Strolling Theatricals The Strolling Theatricals is a British theatre company, located primarily in York.-Company history:The Strolling Theatricals was founded in 2005 by brothers John and William Seaward. William, who was enjoying his gap-year in South America, suggested to his brother that they should take a...
Tanya Seghatchian Tanya Seghatchian Tanya Seghatchian is a film producer.She worked for the BBC and was then appointed executive producer on the third and fourth Harry Potter films, as well as a film called My Summer of Love and the film adaptation of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, which was due out in 2007.She...	1969	—	Film producer, Head of the Development Fund at the UK Film Council UK Film Council The UK Film Council was set up in 2000 by the Labour Government as a non-departmental public body to develop and promote the film industry in the UK. It was constituted as a private company limited by guarantee governed by a board of 15 directors and was funded through sources including the...
Sir Peter Shaffer Peter Shaffer Sir Peter Levin Shaffer is an English dramatist and playwright, screenwriter and author of numerous award-winning plays, several of which have been filmed.-Early life:...	1926	—	Playwright, known for Equus Equus (play) Equus is a play by Peter Shaffer written in 1973, telling the story of a psychiatrist who attempts to treat a young man who has a pathological religious fascination with horses.... and Amadeus Amadeus Amadeus is a play by Peter Shaffer.It is based on the lives of the composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, highly fictionalized.Amadeus was first performed in 1979...
Charles Shaughnessy Charles Shaughnessy Charles George Patrick Shaughnessy, 5th Baron Shaughnessy , simply known as Charles Shaughnessy, is a British peer, and television, theatre and film actor. He is known for his roles on American television, as Shane Donovan on the soap opera Days of our Lives and as Maxwell Sheffield on the sitcom...	1955	—	Actor
Paul Shearer Paul Shearer Paul Shearer is a British actor who is best known as a member of the Fast Show team. His best-known roles on that programme are as a newscaster and a variety show host on the European television parody sketch 'Chanel 9'....	1960	—	Comedy writer and performer, known for The Fast Show The Fast Show The Fast Show, known as Brilliant in the US, was a BBC comedy sketch show programme that ran for three series from 1994 to 1997 with a special Last Fast Show Ever in 2000. The show's central performers were Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson, Simon Day, Mark Williams, John Thomson, Arabella Weir and...
John Shrapnel John Shrapnel John Shrapnel is an English actor.Shrapnel was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, the son of Mary Lillian Myfanwy and journalist/author Norman Shrapnel....	1942	—	Actor
Ben Silburn Ben Silburn Ben Silburn is a British television presenter, radio presenter and comedy writer.- Television and Radio :On television he has presented on BBC programmes including Click Online and Fast Track....	1968	—	Comedy writer, television presenter, member of El Moustachios El Moustachios "El Moustachios" is an International improvisational comedy group based in Amsterdam. The group was created in 2005 by Jochem Meijer , together with other members of Easylaughs: Peter More , Ben Silburn "El Moustachios" is an International improvisational comedy group based in Amsterdam. The group...
Richard Sisson Richard Sisson Richard Sisson is a pianist and composer. As well as concert works, he has composed extensively for the theatre. He is also part of the cabaret double-act Kit and The Widow alongside Kit Hesketh-Harvey.- External links :* * *...	1957	—	Pianist, composer, half of Kit and The Widow Kit and The Widow Kit and The Widow are a double act, performing humorous songs in the vein of Tom Lehrer or Flanders and Swann; they also cite Anna Russell as an influence. They are Kit Hesketh-Harvey and Richard Sisson . They have performed at the Edinburgh Fringe and in West End theatres, and accept private...
Julian Slade Julian Slade Julian Penkivil Slade was an English writer of musical theatre best known for the show Salad Days, which he wrote in six weeks in 1954 and became the UK's longest-running show of the 1950s with over 2,288 performances....	1930	2006	Musical theatre composer, known for Salad Days
Tony Slattery Tony Slattery Anthony Declan James "Tony" Slattery is an English actor and comedian who has appeared on British television regularly since the mid 1980s, most notably as a regular on the Channel 4 improvisation show Whose Line Is It Anyway? As a film actor, both comedic and serious, his credits include The...	1959	—	Comedian, actor
Ali Smith Ali Smith Ali Smith is a British writer.She was born to working-class parents, raised in a council house in Inverness and now lives in Cambridge. She studied at the University of Aberdeen and then at Newnham College, Cambridge, for a PhD that was never finished. She worked as a lecturer at University of...	1962	—	Novelist, short story writer, journalist, known for Hotel World Hotel World Hotel World is a postmodern novel with influences from modernist novel written by Ali Smith portraying the stages of grief in relation to the passage of time. It won both the Scottish Arts Council Book Award and the Encore Award ....
Michael Marshall Smith Michael Marshall Smith Michael Marshall Smith is a British novelist, screenwriter and short story writer who also writes as Michael Marshall.-Biography:...	1965	—	Novelist, screenwriter, short story writer
Gregory Snegoff Gregory Snegoff Gregory Snegoff is an American voice actor, writer and dialogue director who frequently works on English anime-dubs, known for providing the voice of Scott Bernard in Robotech, Taki Renzaburo in Wicked City and Master Roshi in Dragon Ball . He is also known by the names Greg Snegoff, Gregory Snow,...	1955	—	Voice-over artist, writer, director
Sarah Solemani Sarah Solemani Sarah Solemani , is an English actress and writer, best known for starring in BBC Three's series Him and Her.Solemani was a member of the National Youth Theatre, starring as Elaine in the West End theatre production of The Graduate. After passing her A levels, she took a gap year before studying...	1986	—	Writer, actress
Dan Stevens Dan Stevens Daniel Jonathan Stevens is a British actor.-Education:Stevens was educated at Tonbridge School, an independent school in the market town of Tonbridge in Kent, in South East England, followed by Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he read English...	1982	—	Actor
Richard Stilgoe Richard Stilgoe Richard Henry Simpson Stilgoe OBE is a British songwriter, lyricist and musician. He is noted for clever wordplay as much as for his music....	1943	—	Songwriter, lyricist, musician
William Sutcliffe William Sutcliffe William Sutcliffe is a British novelist.An alumnus of Haberdashers' Aske's School, Sutcliffe started his career with a novel about school life entitled New Boy , which was followed by his best-known work so far, Are You Experienced? , a pre-university gap year novel, in which a group of young...	1971	—	Novelist
Jonny Sweet Jonny Sweet Jonny Sweet is a British comedian and winner of the 2009 Edinburgh Comedy Award for best newcomer.-Early life:Sweet was born and educated in Nottingham and attended Nottingham High School, before going to Cambridge University.-Career:...	1985	—	Comedian, writer
Edward Taylor Edward Taylor (scriptwriter) Edward Taylor, is a British dramatist and radio producer best known for the BBC Radio Comedy series The Men from the Ministry....	1931	—	Comedy writer, radio producer, creator of The Men from the Ministry The Men from the Ministry The Men from the Ministry was a British radio comedy series broadcast by the BBC between 1962 and 1977, starring Wilfrid Hyde-White, Richard Murdoch and, from 1966, when he replaced Hyde-White, Deryck Guyler...
Joe Thomas Joe Thomas (actor) Joseph "Joe" Thomas is an English actor perhaps best known for his role as Simon Cooper in the E4's comedy The Inbetweeners...	1983	—	Comedian, actor, writer
Emma Thompson Emma Thompson Emma Thompson is a British actress, comedian and screenwriter. Her first major film role was in the 1989 romantic comedy The Tall Guy. In 1992, Thompson won multiple acting awards, including an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress, for her performance in the British drama Howards End...	1959	—	Comedian, actress, screenwriter
Sandi Toksvig Sandi Toksvig Sandra Brigitte “Sandi” Toksvig is a Danish comedian, author and presenter on British radio and television.-Career:...	1958	—	Comedian, writer, presenter of The News Quiz The News Quiz The News Quiz is a topical panel game broadcast on British radio BBC Radio 4.-History:It was first broadcast in 1977 with Barry Norman as chairman. Subsequently it was chaired by Simon Hoggart, Barry Took , and then again by Simon Hoggart until March 2006. Hoggart was replaced by Sandi Toksvig in...
Richard Vranch Richard Vranch Richard Leslie Vranch is a British comedian, actor and musician.Vranch improvises comedy on stage with the Comedy Store Players every Wednesday and Sunday at The Comedy Store in London. He has voiced British Airways TV and radio commercials since 2003, and he narrates TV documentaries...	1959	—	Comedian, actor, musician, founding member of The Comedy Store Players The Comedy Store Players The Comedy Store Players is a group of improvising comedy performers known for their performances at The Comedy Store in London. The group first came into being in October 1985.Members of the group have included:*Dave Cohen*Jeremy Hardy*Kit Hollerbach...
Nicola Walker Nicola Walker Nicola Walker is an English actress, best known for her starring roles in various British television programmes from the 1990s onwards, particularly as Ruth Evershed in the spy drama Spooks. She has also worked in theatre, radio and film....	1970	—	Actress, known for Spooks Spooks Spooks is a British television drama series that originally aired on BBC One from 13 May 2002 – 23 October 2011, consisting of 10 series. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, as the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a...
Ian Wallace Ian Wallace (singer) Ian Bryce Wallace OBE was a British bass-baritone opera and concert singer, actor and broadcaster of Scottish extraction....	1919	2009	Opera singer, actor, broadcaster
Mark Watson Mark Watson (comedian) Mark Andrew Watson is an English stand-up comedian and novelist.-Early life:Watson was born in Bristol to Welsh parents and attended Henleaze Junior school and then Bristol Grammar School, where he won the prize of 'Gabbler of the year', before going to Queens' College, Cambridge, where he studied...	1980	—	Comedian, novelist, radio presenter
Robert Webb Robert Webb (actor) Robert Webb is an English actor, comedian and writer, and one half of the double act Mitchell and Webb, alongside David Mitchell.-Early life:...	1972	—	Comedian, actor, writer, half of Mitchell and Webb Mitchell and Webb Mitchell and Webb are a British comedy double act, comprising David Mitchell and Robert Webb . They are best known for starring in the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show....
Mark Wing-Davey Mark Wing-Davey Mark Wing-Davey is a British actor and director.-Early life and career:The son of actor and actress Peter Davey and Anna Wing, Wing-Davey went to school at Woolverstone Hall School, before studying at Cambridge University where he was a member of the Footlights from 1967 to 1970.He had a featured...	1948	—	Actor, director
Sophie Winkleman Sophie Winkleman Sophie Lara Winkleman is an English actress who has worked extensively in television, film and stage. On 14 February 2009, she became engaged to Lord Frederick Windsor, the son of Prince Michael and Princess Michael of Kent. They married in Hampton Court on 12 September 2009...	1980	—	Actress
David Wolstencroft David Wolstencroft David Wolstencroft is a Scottish television writer and author. He is best known as creator of the BAFTA award-winning TV spy drama Spooks and its spin-off series, Spooks: Code 9. Wolstencroft was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1969 and grew up in Edinburgh, Scotland, later going on to read history at...	1969	—	Scriptwriter, creator of Spooks Spooks Spooks is a British television drama series that originally aired on BBC One from 13 May 2002 – 23 October 2011, consisting of 10 series. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, as the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a...
Richard Wordsworth Richard Wordsworth The English character actor Richard Wordsworth was born on 19 January 1915 and died on 21 November 1993. He was the great-great-grandson of the poet William Wordsworth....	1915	1993	Character actor
Martin Young	1947	—	Television reporter, interviewer, co-creator of Rough Justice Rough Justice (TV series) Rough Justice was a BBC television series which investigated alleged miscarriages of justice. It was broadcast between 1982 and 2007, and played a role in securing the release of 18 people involved in 13 cases involving miscarriages of justice. The programme was similar in aim and approach to The...

Footlights President

The elected leader of Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club is known as the Footlights President. There is also a Vice President.

Past presidents have included Peter Cook

Peter Cook

Peter Edward Cook was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's...

, as well as The Goodies

The Goodies

The Goodies are a trio of British comedians who created, wrote, and starred in a surreal British television comedy series called The Goodies during the 1970s and early 1980s combining sketches and situation comedy.-Honours:All three Goodies now have OBEs...

 members Tim Brooke-Taylor

Tim Brooke-Taylor

Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor OBE is an English comic actor. He became active in performing in comedy sketches while at Cambridge University, and became President of the Footlights club, touring internationally with the Footlights revue in 1964...

 and Graeme Garden

Graeme Garden

David Graeme Garden OBE is a Scottish author, actor, comedian, artist and television presenter, who first became known as a member of The Goodies.-Early life and beginnings in comedy:...

. Also included were Hugh Laurie

Hugh Laurie

James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE , better known as Hugh Laurie , is an English actor, voice artist, comedian, writer, musician, recording artist, and director...

, David Mitchell

David Mitchell (actor)

David James Stuart Mitchell is a British actor, comedian and writer. He is half of the comedy duo Mitchell and Webb, alongside Robert Webb, whom he met at Cambridge University. There they were both part of the Cambridge Footlights, of which Mitchell became President. Together the duo star in the...

, Tony Slattery

Tony Slattery

Anthony Declan James "Tony" Slattery is an English actor and comedian who has appeared on British television regularly since the mid 1980s, most notably as a regular on the Channel 4 improvisation show Whose Line Is It Anyway? As a film actor, both comedic and serious, his credits include The...

.

Monty Python

Monty Python

Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...

 member Eric Idle

Eric Idle

Eric Idle is an English comedian, actor, author, singer, writer, and comedic composer. He was as a member of the British comedy group Monty Python, a member of the The Rutles on Saturday Night Live and author of the play, Spamalot....

 was the first president to allow women to join the Footlights.

The current Footlights President is Phil Wang.

List of presidents

1886 - F. W. Mortimer 1887 - J. J. Withers 1888 - W. S. Gilbert W. S. Gilbert Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S... 1890 - Oscar Browning Oscar Browning Oscar Browning was an English writer, historian, and educational reformer. His greatest achievement was the cofounding, along with Henry Sidgwick, of the Cambridge University Day Training College in 1891... 1891 - C. M. Rae 1892 - Oscar Browning Oscar Browning Oscar Browning was an English writer, historian, and educational reformer. His greatest achievement was the cofounding, along with Henry Sidgwick, of the Cambridge University Day Training College in 1891... 1894 - Oscar Browning Oscar Browning Oscar Browning was an English writer, historian, and educational reformer. His greatest achievement was the cofounding, along with Henry Sidgwick, of the Cambridge University Day Training College in 1891... 1895 - Oscar Browning Oscar Browning Oscar Browning was an English writer, historian, and educational reformer. His greatest achievement was the cofounding, along with Henry Sidgwick, of the Cambridge University Day Training College in 1891... 1896 - H. C. Pollitt 1897 - H. C. Pollitt 1898 - M. V. Leveaux 1899 - S. W. Burgess 1900 - O. J. Goedecker 1901 - R. J. White 1902 - E. K. Fordham 1904 - G. S. Heathcote 1905 - G.S. Heathcote 1906 - H. Rottenburg 1907 - H. Rottenburg 1908 - J. S. Murray 1909 - L. B. Tillard 1910 - A. R. Inglis 1911 - A. R. Inglis 1912 - P. D. Ravenscroft 1913 - C. A. A. Douglas Hamilton 1914 - M. Cutherston 1919 - B. D. Nicholson 1920 - B. D. Nicholson 1921 - M. D. Lyon 1922 - M. D. Lyon

1923 - F. E. Powell 1924 - J. A. C. Barradale 1925 - H. J. Warrender 1926 - J. D. Houison Craufurd 1927 - H. C. Martineau 1928 - H. E. R. Mitchell 1929 - J. Fell Clark 1930 - J. C. Byrom 1931 - R. S. Hill 1932 - P. E. Lyon 1933 - J. A. Coates 1934 - Lord Killanin Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin, MBE, TD was an Irish journalist, author, sports official, the sixth president of the International Olympic Committee... 1935 - Harry Lee 1936 - Peter Crane 1937 - Albert E. P. Robison 1938 - P. B. Meyer 1939 - Sir Robert Ricketts 1947 - D. C. Orders 1948 - D. C. Orders 1949 - Simon Phipps Simon Wilton Phipps Simon Wilton Phipps MC was Bishop of Lincoln between 1974 and 1987.-Life:He was born on 6 July 1921, the son of Captain William Duncan Phipps R.N. and Pamela Ross, and was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge.... 1950 - Adrian Vale 1951 - Ian Kellie 1952 - Andrew Davidson 1953 - Peter Firth 1954 - Leslie Bricusse Leslie Bricusse Leslie Bricusse is an English composer, lyricist, and playwright.Although best known for his partnership with Anthony Newley, Bricusse has worked with many other composers. He was educated at University College School in London and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge... 1955 - Brian Marber 1956 - Tim Berington 1957 - Allan Mitchell 1958 - Peter Stroud 1959 - Adrian Slade Adrian Slade Adrian Carnegie Slade, CBE, born 25 May 1936, is a British Liberal Democrat politician and advertising agency founder.He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he became President of the Footlights, and famously recruited Peter Cook to the society....

1960 - Peter Cook Peter Cook Peter Edward Cook was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's... 1961 - Peter Bellwood Peter Bellwood Peter Bellwood is a Professor of Archaeology at the School of Archaeology and Anthropology of the Australian National University in Canberra... 1962 - Robert Atkins Robert Atkins (politician) Sir Robert James Atkins is a British Conservative politician. Educated at Highgate School, he served as a councillor for the London Borough of Haringey from 1968 to 1977. He was the Member of Parliament for Preston North and South Ribble from 1979 to 1997 and became a Member of the European... 1963 - Tim Brooke-Taylor Tim Brooke-Taylor Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor OBE is an English comic actor. He became active in performing in comedy sketches while at Cambridge University, and became President of the Footlights club, touring internationally with the Footlights revue in 1964... 1964 - Graeme Garden Graeme Garden David Graeme Garden OBE is a Scottish author, actor, comedian, artist and television presenter, who first became known as a member of The Goodies.-Early life and beginnings in comedy:... 1965 - Eric Idle Eric Idle Eric Idle is an English comedian, actor, author, singer, writer, and comedic composer. He was as a member of the British comedy group Monty Python, a member of the The Rutles on Saturday Night Live and author of the play, Spamalot.... 1966 - Andrew Mayer 1967 - Clive James Clive James Clive James, AM is an Australian author, critic, broadcaster, poet and memoirist, best known for his autobiographical series Unreliable Memoirs, for his chat shows and documentaries on British television and for his prolific journalism... 1968 - Jonathan James-Moore Jonathan James-Moore Jonathan James-Moore was an English theatre manager and BBC radio producer and executive.He was born in Worcestershire and educated at Bromsgrove School and Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a degree in engineering and served as Footlights president... 1969 - Barry Brown 1970 - Adrian Edwards 1971 - Richard MacKenna 1972 - Steve Thorn 1973 - Robert Benton 1974 - Jon Canter Jon Canter Jon Canter is an English television comedy writer for Lenny Henry and other leading comedians. Canter was born and brought up in the Jewish community of Golders Green, North London and studied law at the University of Cambridge where he became President of Footlights.After a spell in advertising... 1975 - Clive Anderson Clive Anderson Clive Anderson is a British former barrister, best known for being a comedy writer as well as a radio and television presenter in the United Kingdom... 1976 - Chris Keightley 1977 - Jimmy Mulville Jimmy Mulville James Thomas "Jimmy" Mulville is an English comedian, comedy writer, producer and television presenter. Jimmy Mulville is best known for co-founding in 1986 the British independent television production company Hat Trick Productions with Denise O'Donoghue and Rory McGrath... 1978 - Martin Bergman Martin Bergman Martin Bergman is a British producer, writer and director notable for working in Hollywood.After leaving Cambridge University in 1979, where he was president of the Footlights, Bergman produced several live arena shows with his Australian partner Michael Edgley, including the world tour of ice... 1979 - Robert Bathurst Robert Bathurst Robert Guy Bathurst is an English actor. Bathurst was born in the Gold Coast in 1957, where his father was working as a management consultant. His family moved to Dublin, Ireland, in 1959 and Bathurst was enrolled at an Anglican boarding school... 1980 - Jan Ravens Jan Ravens Janet "Jan" Ravens is an English actress and impressionist, famous for her voices on Spitting Image and Dead Ringers.-Early life:... 1981 - Hugh Laurie Hugh Laurie James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE , better known as Hugh Laurie , is an English actor, voice artist, comedian, writer, musician, recording artist, and director... 1982 - Tony Slattery Tony Slattery Anthony Declan James "Tony" Slattery is an English actor and comedian who has appeared on British television regularly since the mid 1980s, most notably as a regular on the Channel 4 improvisation show Whose Line Is It Anyway? As a film actor, both comedic and serious, his credits include The... 1983 - Neil Mullarkey Neil Mullarkey Neil Mullarkey is an English actor, writer and comedian.Mullarkey studied at Robinson College, Cambridge; while he was there he was Junior Treasurer of the Cambridge Footlights in the academic year 1981 to 1982 and was president in the year ending 1983... 1984 - Nick Hancock 1985 - Kathryn Crew 1986 - Nick Golson 1987 - Tim Scott 1988 - Peter Bradshaw Peter Bradshaw Peter Bradshaw is a British writer and film critic. He was educated at Cambridge University, where he was President of Footlights.Bradshaw is a film critic for The Guardian... 1989 - Roland Kenyon

1990 - Henry Naylor Henry Naylor Henry Naylor is a British comedy writer and performer, best known for his work with comedy partner Andy Parsons in Parsons and Naylor's Pull-Out Sections.... 1991 - Sue Perkins Sue Perkins Sue Perkins is an English comedienne, broadcaster, actress, and writer.-Education:Perkins was educated at Croham Hurst School, an independent school for girls in Croydon in South London, at the same time as the BBC Breakfast News presenter Susanna Reid... 1992 - Dan Gaster 1993 - Mark Evans Mark Evans (comedian/writer) Mark Evans is a Welsh comedian, actor, and writer.He has written for many U.K. radio and television programmes, including That Mitchell and Webb Look , The Late Edition , That Mitchell and Webb Sound , Popetown , and Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway... 1994 - Robert Thorogood 1995 - Charlie Hartill 1996 - David Mitchell David Mitchell (actor) David James Stuart Mitchell is a British actor, comedian and writer. He is half of the comedy duo Mitchell and Webb, alongside Robert Webb, whom he met at Cambridge University. There they were both part of the Cambridge Footlights, of which Mitchell became President. Together the duo star in the... 1997 - Sarah Moule 1998 - Richard Ayoade Richard Ayoade Richard Ellef Ayoade is a British comedian, actor, writer and director best known for his role as Maurice Moss in The IT Crowd.Ayoade was born an only child to a Norwegian mother, Dagny , and a Nigerian father, Layide Ade Laditi Ayoade. Ayoade studied at St... 1999 - Kevin Baker 2000 - Matt Green Matt Green (actor) Matt Green is an English actor and comedian. He was the President of the Cambridge Footlights from 1999-2000. Since graduating in 2000 he has worked as an actor and comedian based in London.- Stand-up comedy :Matt started performing stand up comedy in 2003... 2001 - James Morris 2002 - Ed Weeks 2003 - Stefan Golaszewski Stefan Golaszewski Stefan Golaszewski is an English writer, performer, director and pop singer. He is part of comedy sketch group Cowards.-Career:Golaszewski was the Cambridge Footlights President from 2002-3.... 2004 - Ed Riches 2005 - Raph Shirley 2006 - Simon Bird Simon Bird Simon Antony Bird is an actor, writer and comedian. He is best known for playing Will McKenzie in E4’s BAFTA-winning TV comedy The Inbetweeners.-Early life:... 2007 - Tom Sharpe 2008 - Sam Sword 2009 - Alastair Roberts 2010 - Abi Tedder 2011 - Mark Fiddaman 2012 - Phil Wang

See also

• The Oxford Revue
  The Oxford Revue
  The Oxford Revue is a comedy group featuring students from Oxford University, England. Founded in the early 1950s, The Oxford Revue has produced many prominent comedians and satirists. The Revue writes, produces and performs several shows each term...
  
  
• Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club
  Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club
  Founded in 1855, the Amateur Dramatic Club is the oldest University dramatic society in England - and the largest dramatic society in Cambridge....
  
  
• Cambridge University Light Entertainment Society
  Cambridge University Light Entertainment Society
  The Cambridge University Light Entertainment Society is a student drama society at Cambridge University. Notable alumni include Douglas Adams, John Cleese , HRH The Prince Edward, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden....
  
  

Sources

Information about the Footlights Revues during the first one hundred years of the Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club (1883–1983), and the people who appeared in them — with a foreword by Eric Idle.

External links

• Official website
• Past members and shows
• Footlights Alumni Association