The
University of Reading is a
universityA university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
in the
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
town of
ReadingReading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
,
BerkshireBerkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
. The University was established in 1892 as
University College, Reading and received its
Royal CharterA royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...
in 1926. It is based on several campuses in, and around, the town of Reading.
The University has a long tradition of research, education and training at a local, national and international level. It offers traditional degrees and also less usual and other vocationally relevant ones. It was awarded the
Queen's Anniversary PrizeThe Queen's Anniversary Prizes for Higher and Further Education is a biennially awarded series of prizes awarded to Universities and Colleges in the further and higher education sectors within the United Kingdom...
for Higher and Further Education in 1998, 2005 and again in 2009. It is one of the ten most research intensive universities in the UK and ranked in the top 1% of universities in the world by THE.
History
The University owes its first origins to the Schools of Art and Science established in Reading in 1860 and 1870. In 1892 the
College at Reading was founded as an extension college by
Christ Church CollegeChrist Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
of the
University of OxfordThe University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
. The Schools of Art and Science were transferred to the new college by Reading Town Council in the same year.
The new college received its first treasury grant in 1901. Three years later it was given a site, now the university's
London Road CampusLondon Road Campus of the University of Reading is the original campus of that university. It is on the London Road, immediately to the south of Reading town centre in the English county of Berkshire....
, by the Palmer family of
Huntley & PalmersHuntley & Palmers was a British firm of biscuit makers originally based in Reading, Berkshire. The company created one of the world's first global brands and ran what was once the world’s largest biscuit factory. Over the years, the company was also known as J...
fame. The same family supported the opening of
Wantage HallWantage Hall, built 1908, is the oldest hall of residence at the University of Reading. The hall is in the town of Reading in the UK. The displayed motto "Astra castra, Numen lumen" is that of the Knights of the Maccabees...
in 1908, and of the Research Institute in Dairying in 1912.
The college first applied for a
Royal CharterA royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...
in 1920 but was unsuccessful at that time. However a second petition, in 1925, was successful, and the charter was officially granted on March 17, 1926. With the charter, the college became the University of Reading, the only new university to be created in England between the two world wars.
In 1947 the University purchased
Whiteknights ParkWhiteknights Park, or the Whiteknights Campus of the University of Reading, is the principal campus of that university. The park covers the area of the manor of Earley Whiteknights, also known as Earley St Nicholas and Earley Regis.Whiteknights Park is some two miles south of the centre of the town...
, which was to become its principal campus. In 1984 the University started a merger with Bulmershe College of Higher Education, which was completed in 1989.
In October 2006, the Senior Management Board proposed the closure of its Physics Department to future undergraduate application. This was ascribed to financial reasons and lack of alternative ideas and caused considerable controversy, not least a debate in
ParliamentThe Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
over the closure which prompted heated discussion of higher education issues in general. On October 10 the Senate voted to close the Department of Physics, a move confirmed by the Council on November 20. Other departments closed in recent years include Music, Sociology, Geology, and Mechanical Engineering. The university council decided in March 2009 to close the School of Health and Social Care, a school whose courses have consistently been oversubscribed.
In January 2008, the University announced its merger with the Henley Management College to create the university's new
Henley Business School, bringing together Henley College's expertise in MBAs with the University's existing Business School and
ICMA CentreThe ICMA Centre is a centre of higher education based in the English town of Reading, Berkshire. It offers undergraduate, postgraduate and executive education tailored to the capital markets industry....
. The merger took formal effect on the 1st August 2008, with the new business school split across the university's existing Whiteknights Campus and its new Greenlands Campus that formerly housed Henley Management College.
A restructuring of the university was announced in September 2009, which would bring together all the academic schools into three faculties, these being the Faculty of Science, the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social sciences, and Henley Business School. The move was predicted to result in the loss of some jobs, especially in the film, theatre and television departmen, which will shortly be moving into a brand new £11.5 million building on Whiteknights Campus.
In late 2009 it was announced that the London Road Campus was to undergo a £30 million renovation, preparatory to becoming the new home of the university's Institute of Education. This is planned for completion in the summer of 2011, and is being partially funded by the sale of the adjoining site of Mansfield Hall, a former hall of residence, for demolition and replacement by private sector student accommodation.
Campuses
The University maintains over 1.6 square kilometres (395 acre) of grounds, in four distinct campuses:
- Whiteknights Campus
Whiteknights Park, or the Whiteknights Campus of the University of Reading, is the principal campus of that university. The park covers the area of the manor of Earley Whiteknights, also known as Earley St Nicholas and Earley Regis.Whiteknights Park is some two miles south of the centre of the town...
, at 1.3 square kilometres (321 acre), is the largest and includes Whiteknights Lake, conservation meadows and woodlands as well as most of the University's departments. The campus takes its name from the nickname of the 13th century knightA knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
, John De Erleigh IV or the 'White Knight', and was landscaped in the 18th century by Marquis of BlandfordJohn Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, Prince of Mindelheim, KG, PC , was an English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reigns of five monarchs through the late 17th and early 18th centuries...
. The main University library, in the middle of the campus, holds nearly a million books and subscribes to around 4,000 periodicals.
- The smaller London Road Campus
London Road Campus of the University of Reading is the original campus of that university. It is on the London Road, immediately to the south of Reading town centre in the English county of Berkshire....
is the original University site and is closer to the town centre of Reading. The London Road site forms the base for the majority of the university's extramural and distance learning activities, and is home to the Centre for Continuing Education and the Professional Management Programmes as well as the Museum of English Rural Life. Moreover, it plays host to the University graduation ceremonies twice a year, in the Great Hall. London Road is currently undergoing extensive renovation to allow a number of departments to move from Bulmershe from 2011.
- The Bulmershe Court Campus
Bulmershe Court is, today, a campus of the University of Reading, situated in what is now the Reading suburb of Woodley, in the English county of Berkshire...
in Woodley is the site of the former Bulmershe Teaching College, which merged with The University of Reading in 1989. The campus is now the home of The Institute of Education and the Department of Film, Theatre and Television, alongside the Bulmershe site of Students’ Union, Breeze Bar, and Bulmershe Hall of Residences. It also has the largest hall of residence of the University. Furthermore, the campus hosts a range of the University's home sporting fixtures, including football, basketball and American Football. Bulmershe is currently due for closure in 2011 with departments moving to either London Road or Whiteknights Campuses.
- The Greenlands Campus
Greenlands is a country house situated by the River Thames in Buckinghamshire, just outside Henley-on-Thames. Built in the nineteenth century, it now forms the core of Greenlands Campus of the University of Reading, and is used by their Henley Business School as the base for its MBA and corporate...
, on the banks of the River ThamesThe River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
in BuckinghamshireBuckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
. Once the home of William Henry Smith, son of the founder of WH Smith, and latterly the site of the Henley Management College, this campus became part of the university on the 1st August 2008, with the merger of that college with the university's Business School to form the Henley Business School. The school's MBAThe Master of Business Administration is a :master's degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging from the late 19th century as the country industrialized and companies sought out...
and corporate learning offerings will be based at Greenlands, with undergraduate and other postgraduate courses being based at Whiteknights.
The University also owns 8.5 square kilometres (2,100 acre) of farmland in the nearby villages of
ArborfieldArborfield is a village in Berkshire about south-east of Reading, about west of Wokingham, and about west of the sister village of Arborfield Cross The village is on the A327 road linking Reading...
,
SonningSonning, occasionally called Sonning-on-Thames is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Wokingham in the English county of Berkshire, a few miles east of Reading. The village is situated on the River Thames and was described by Jerome K...
and
ShinfieldShinfield is a village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire, just south of Reading. It contains and is administered by the unitary authority of Wokingham District.-Geography:...
. These support a mixed farming system including dairy cows, ewes and beef animals, and host research centres of which the flagship is the Centre for Dairy Research.
As part of the proposed Whiteknights Development Plan in Autumn 2007, the University proposed spending up to £250 million on its estates over 30 years, principally to focus academic activities onto the Whiteknights site. The University also intends to site some functions on the London Road site, with a complete withdrawal from Bulmershe Court proposed by 2012.
Research
In the
Research Assessment ExerciseThe Research Assessment Exercise is an exercise undertaken approximately every 5 years on behalf of the four UK higher education funding councils to evaluate the quality of research undertaken by British higher education institutions...
in 2001, five departments were awarded the top rate of 5* –
ArchaeologyArchaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
,
EnglishEnglish studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,...
,
ItalianItalian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
,
MeteorologyMeteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...
and
PsychologyPsychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, and fifteen departments were awarded the rating of 5.
In the government’s 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) the School of Law was ranked equal 11th in the UK across the assessment of all its research, and equal 7th based on the high percentage of its research rated as 4* (‘world leading’) or 3* (‘internationally excellent’). In the wake of the 2008 RAE, the university saw a cut of £4m (19%) in its recurrent research funding, the largest cut among the
1994 GroupThe 1994 Group is a coalition of 19 top "smaller research-intensive universities" in the United Kingdom founded in 1994 to defend their interests following the creation of the Russell Group by larger research-intensive universities earlier that year...
of British universities.
The Department of Meteorology was awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in 2005. Reading was the first university to win a Queen's Award for Export Achievement, in 1989.
UK University RankingsRankings of universities in the United Kingdom are published annually by The Guardian, The Independent, The Sunday Times and The Times...
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Community
In the 2004–05 academic year, the university had 4,024 staff and 15,326 students.
Reading University Students' Union is the affiliated student organisation which represents the students' interests. The university also has a number of Junior Common Rooms that are nominally independent from the Students' Union and the University.
The Students' Union publishes
Spark*Spark* is the student newspaper of the University of Reading. It is produced fortnightly during term time, and as of June 2011 the newspaper has reached Volume 57 Issue 3, following a convention of increasing volume number with each new academic term. It is available as a paper edition distributed...
, a bi-weekly newspaper aimed at the student population of the University, which is published fortnightly during term-time. It also runs the student radio station
Junction11, and television station
RU:ON.
The Students' Union building on Whiteknights Campus contains an 1800 capacity venue called 3sixty, two bars, a number of retail outlets, and The Hub. The Hub is the Union's new volunteer, advice, student activity centre, cost around £1.8m and was officially opened in March 2007 by
Bill RammellWilliam Ernest Rammell is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Harlow from 1997 to 2010, and has served as the Minister of State for the Armed Forces at the Ministry of Defence...
MP, Minister for Higher Education.
The University of Reading has around 60 societies open to and run by its students.
University halls and accommodation
Student
accommodationLodging is a type of residential accommodation. People who travel and stay away from home for more than a day need lodging for sleep, rest, safety, shelter from cold temperatures or rain, storage of luggage and access to common household functions.Lodgings may be self catering in which case no...
is provided in a number of halls of residence offering a mix of partially catered (19 meals per week) and self-catering accommodation, along with other self-catering accommodation. Following a major review the University is now preceding with the integrated Halls and Catering Strategy, that will see several halls replaced as well as new ones created with social, catering & welfare facilities provided in hub areas. Most of the halls of residence lie close to the northern campus periphery and in residential areas close by.
Halls are managed in groups which are
Lakeside (Bridges, Bulmershe & Wessex),
Northcourt (Sibly, Sherfield, Student Village (managed by UPP) and St Patrick's Hall) ),
Park (Greenow, McCombie, MacKinder, Stenton, Windsor and Dunsden Crescent),
Redlands (Hillside, Martindale, St. George's, Wells and
WantageWantage Hall, built 1908, is the oldest hall of residence at the University of Reading. The hall is in the town of Reading in the UK. The displayed motto "Astra castra, Numen lumen" is that of the Knights of the Maccabees...
) and
Estates Management (35 Upper Redlands Road, Mansfield and St. David's).
In 2011 the management of the mature and international halls, Hillside and Martindale, was taken over by the "Estates management team". In the same year the new Kendrick Halls were opened, this were on the ground of halls which had not been in use for many years. These are not managed by the university.
The former St. Andrews Hall closed in 2001, and is now the home of the
Museum of English Rural LifeThe Museum of English Rural Life is a museum dedicated to recording the changing face of farming and the countryside in England. It houses designated collections of national importance that span the full range of objects, archives, photographs, film and books.The museum is run by the University of...
.
St. George's Hall and The Reading Student Village are leased back to the University from UPP. The cost of leasing back the Student Village to the University, according to the University accounts, was £1.5 million for 2003–04 and £1.3 million in 2002–03.
Museums, libraries and botanical gardens
Reading University maintains four
museumA museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
s, two campus libraries and a range of inter-departmental libraries, and a
botanical gardenA botanical garden The terms botanic and botanical, and garden or gardens are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word botanic is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is a well-tended area displaying a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names...
. The largest and best known of these museum is the
Museum of English Rural LifeThe Museum of English Rural Life is a museum dedicated to recording the changing face of farming and the countryside in England. It houses designated collections of national importance that span the full range of objects, archives, photographs, film and books.The museum is run by the University of...
, which has recently relocated from a location on Whiteknights Campus to a site nearer the town centre on the London Road Campus. The
Ure Museum of Greek ArchaeologyThe Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology forms part of the Department of Classics at the University of Reading. It is situated on the university's Whiteknights Campus, about from the centre of the English town of Reading....
, the
Cole Museum of ZoologyThe Cole Museum of Zoology is a university museum, part of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Reading. It is located on the university's Whiteknights Campus in the town of Reading, Berkshire, England....
, the
University of Reading HerbariumThe University of Reading Herbarium, acronym RNG, is a herbarium on the University of Reading's Whiteknights Campus. Along with the Cole Museum it forms part of the University's School of Biological Sciences, and is principally used for teaching and research purposes...
and the
Harris GardenThe Harris Garden is a botanical garden on the Whiteknights Campus of the University of Reading, about from the centre of the English town of Reading. It was established in 1972 and expanded into its current form in 1988. It is named after Professor Tom Harris, a distinguished palaeobotanist and...
are all on the Whiteknights Campus.
The Whiteknights Main Library holds catalogue of over 1.2 million books, as well as a range of electronic resources, videos and archives, in 14,000 square metres of public space on five floors of resources, a maintenance floor, entrance plaza and the Knowledge Exchange. The secondary library on the University's Bulmershe Campus supports teaching courses and provides resources in education, health & social care, music, and film & drama. There is also a library in the University's Meteorology department.
Working with business
Reading hosts a number of private sector businesses on its campuses, either occupying dedicated buildings or in managed space at the Science & Technology Centre or Enterprise Hub.
Science & Technology Centre
The University of Reading Science & Technology Centre is situated on the eastern side of Whiteknights Campus. The Science & Technology Centre supports and accommodates technology companies from start-up through to larger
SMESmall and medium enterprises or small and medium-sized enterprises are companies whose headcount or turnover falls below certain limits.The abbreviation "SME" occurs commonly...
s.
The following notable companies are based at, or have been based at, the Science & Technology Centre:
- Assuria Ltd
- Reading Scientific Services Ltd
Reading Enterprise Hub
Reading Enterprise Hub is a
business incubatorBusiness incubators are programs designed to accelerate the successful development of entrepreneurial companies through an array of business support resources and services, developed and orchestrated by incubator management and offered both in the incubator and through its network of contacts...
opened in 2003. The hub was jointly sponsored by the university and
SEEDASEEDA, more officially the South East England Development Agency, is one of a number of regional development agencies in England. It was set up as a non-departmental public body in 1999 to promote the region and to enable a number of more difficult regeneration projects which otherwise might not...
, and sought to attract startup high tech companies, particularly those with interests in
environmental technologyEnvironmental technology or green technology or clean technology is the application of one or more of environmental science, green chemistry, environmental monitoring and electronic devices to monitor, model and conserve the natural environment and resources, and to curb the negative impacts of...
,
information technologyInformation technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
,
life sciencesThe life sciences comprise the fields of science that involve the scientific study of living organisms, like plants, animals, and human beings. While biology remains the centerpiece of the life sciences, technological advances in molecular biology and biotechnology have led to a burgeoning of...
, and
materials scienceMaterials science is an interdisciplinary field applying the properties of matter to various areas of science and engineering. This scientific field investigates the relationship between the structure of materials at atomic or molecular scales and their macroscopic properties. It incorporates...
.
The hub was originally situated in
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
era temporary office buildings on the university's Whiteknights campus. During the summer of 2008 the hub was demolished, along with the neighbouring former
agricultureAgriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
buildings, and the remaining tenants relocated to a building on the London Road campus. As of April 2010, a new Reading Enterprise Centre is being constructed on the hub's original site.
Dedicated buildings
Besides its use of the Science & Technology Centre, Reading Scientific Services also occupies the Reading Science Centre, situated on the western side of Whiteknights campus.
Governing bodies and roles
The university is nominally led by a
ChancellorA chancellor or vice-chancellor is the chief executive of a university. Other titles are sometimes used, such as president or rector....
, who is the titular head of the university, and is normally a well-known public figure. The day to day chief executive role is the responsibility of the Vice-Chancellor, a full time academic post. The senior management board of the university is headed by the Vice-Chancellor, assisted by a Deputy-Vice-Chancellor, three Pro-Vice-Chancellors, four Deans and five Heads of Directorate. It is responsible for the day-to-day management of the University and meets fortnightly throughout most of the year.
The senior management board reports to the university's Senate, the main academic administrative body. The senate has around 100 members and meets at least four times a year and advises on areas such as student entry, assessment and awards. Membership includes Deans, Heads and elected representatives of Schools, as well as professional staff and students. The Senate in turn reports to the Council, which is the supreme governing body of the university, setting strategic direction, ensuring compliance with statutory requirements and approving constitutional changes. The Council meets four times a year, and comprises a broad representation of lay members drawn from commercial, community and professional organisations.
Officers of the University
Principals of University College, Reading
- Sir Halford John Mackinder (1892–1903)
- Dr William Macbride Childs
William Macbride Childs was an English academic administrator and historian, who was involved in the foundation of the University of Reading and who served briefly as its first vice-chancellor....
(1903–1926)
Chancellors of the University of Reading
- J. H. Benyon
James Herbert Benyon MA was an early 20th century Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire.Born James Herbert Fellowes, he was the son of James Fellowes of Kingston Maurward House near Dorchester, Dorset who was the youngest son of William Henry Fellowes of Ramsey Abbey in Huntingdonshire by his wife, Emma...
(1926–1935)
- Sir Austen Chamberlain
Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain, KG was a British statesman, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and half-brother of Neville Chamberlain.- Early life and career :...
(1935–1937)
- Sir Samuel Hoare, Viscount Templewood (1937–1959)
- Lord Bridges (1959–1969)
- Sir Roger Makins, Lord Sherfield
Roger Mellor Makins, 1st Baron Sherfield, GCB, GCMG, FRS , was a British diplomat who served as British Ambassador to the United States from 1953 to 1956....
(1970–1992)
- Lord Carrington (1992–2007)
- Sir John Madejski
Sir John Robert Madejski OBE DL is an English businessman, with commercial interests, spanning property, broadcast media, hotels, restaurants, publishing and football...
(2007–)
Vice-Chancellors of the University of Reading
- Dr William Macbride Childs
William Macbride Childs was an English academic administrator and historian, who was involved in the foundation of the University of Reading and who served briefly as its first vice-chancellor....
(1926–1929)
- Sir Franklin Sibly (1929–1946)
- Sir Frank Stenton
Sir Frank Merry Stenton was a 20th century historian of Anglo-Saxon England, and president of the Royal Historical Society . He was the author of Anglo-Saxon England, a volume of the Oxford History of England, first published in 1943 and widely considered a classic history of the period...
(1946–1950)
- Sir John Wolfenden, Baron Wolfenden
John Frederick Wolfenden, Baron Wolfenden, CBE was a British educationalist probably best remembered for chairing the Wolfenden report recommending the decriminalisation of homosexuality, which was published in 1957...
(1950–1963)
- Sir Harry Raymond Pitt
Sir Harry Raymond Pitt, FRS was a British mathematician.Harry Raymond Pitt was born in West Bromwich in 1914, the son of Harry and Harriet Pitt...
(1964–1978)
- Prof. Ewan Page (1979–1993)
- Prof. Sir Roger Williams
Professor Sir Roger Williams is a notable Welsh academic. He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Reading from 1993 until 2002, and chair of Higher Education Funding Council for Wales from 2002 to 2008...
(1993–2002)
- Prof. Gordon Marshall (2003–July 2011)
- Sir David Bell (January 2012-)
Finance
In recent years the university has been beset by controversy, with closing departments and job losses among staff. The university will lose 7.7% of its
HEFCEThe Higher Education Funding Council for England is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in the United Kingdom, which has been responsible for the distribution of funding to Universities and Colleges of Higher and Further Education in England since...
funding in fiscal year 2010-2011.
Notable academics
- Stanislav Andreski
Stanisław Andrzejewski was a Polish-British sociologist known best for his scathing indictment of the "pretentious nebulous verbosity" endemic in the modern social sciences in his classic work Social Sciences as Sorcery .Andrzejewski was a Polish Army officer...
- was a professor of SociologySociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
at the University of Reading
- Malcolm Barber
Malcolm Charles Barber is a British scholar of medieval history, described as the world's leading living expert on the Knights Templar. He is considered to have written the two most comprehensive books on the subject, The Trial of the Templars and The New Knighthood: A History of the Order of the...
- Emeritus Professor of HistoryHistory is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, University of Reading
- Howard Colquhoun
Howard Colquhoun is a British chemist currently at the University of Reading. Following degrees at Cambridge and London , Howard Colquhoun carried out research at the ICI Corporate Laboratory in Cheshire before moving to Manchester University in 1994 as a Royal Society Industry Fellow...
- Professor of Materials Chemistry, University of Reading
- Neil Crosby
Neil Crosby is an influential academic valuer, Professor of Real Estate at the University of Reading. He has heavily influenced UK property valuation practice through a series of journal publications in the late 1980s and early 1990s, which dealt with questions of investment property valuation...
- Professor of Real EstateIn general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
, University of Reading
- Jonathan Dancy
Jonathan Peter Dancy is a British philosopher, working on epistemology and on ethics. He is currently Professor Emeritus at the University of Reading and Professor of Philosophy at University of Texas at Austin.-Biography:...
- Professor of PhilosophyPhilosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, University of Reading
- Michael Drew
Professor Michael Drew is a chemistry professor at the University of Reading. He previously held the position of head of physical chemistry. His main area of study centres on computational chemistry...
- Professor of ChemistryChemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
, University of Reading
- Antony Flew
Antony Garrard Newton Flew was a British philosopher. Belonging to the analytic and evidentialist schools of thought, he was notable for his works on the philosophy of religion....
- Emeritus Professor of PhilosophyPhilosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, University of Reading
- Sir Terry Frost
Sir Terry Frost RA was an English artist noted for his abstracts....
- was Professor of Fine Art, University of Reading
- Michael Fulford
Michael Gordon Fulford, CBE, FBA, is a Professor of Archaeology at the University of Reading,He studied Archaeology and Latin at Southampton University, where he was also awarded a doctorate...
- Professor of ArchaeologyArchaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
and Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Reading
- Colin S. Gray
Colin S. Gray is a British-American strategic thinker and professor of International Relations and Strategic Studies at the University of Reading, where he is the director of the Centre for Strategic Studies. In addition, he is a Senior Associate to the National Institute for Public Policy.Gray...
- Professor of International RelationsInternational relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
and Strategic StudiesStrategic studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to topics concerning the relationship between politics, geography and natural resources, economics, and military power, such as the role of intelligence, diplomacy and threats in the preparation and use of force...
, University of Reading
- Edward Guggenheim - was a thermodynamicist
In thermodynamics, a thermodynamicist is one who studies thermodynamic processes and phenomena, i.e. the physics that deals with mechanical action and relations of heat...
and professor of chemistry at the University of Reading
- Andrew Gurr
Andrew John Gurr is a contemporary literary scholar who specializes in William Shakespeare and English Renaissance theatre.-Life and work:...
- was a professor of EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
at the University of Reading until his retirement and is a leading authority on Shakespeare
- Beatrice Heuser
Beatrice Heuser is an historian and political scientist. She is currently a professor of International Relations at the University of Reading....
- Professor of International RelationsInternational relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
, University of Reading
- Gustav Holst
Gustav Theodore Holst was an English composer. He is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets....
- was a professor of MusicMusic is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
at University College, Reading
- Harold Hopkins
Harold Horace Hopkins FRS was a renowned British physicist. His Wave Theory of Aberrations, , is central to all modern optical design and provides the mathematical analysis which enables the use of computers to create the wealth of high quality lenses available today...
- was a professor of Applied Physical Optics at the University of Reading
- Sir Brian Hoskins
Professor Sir Brian John Hoskins CBE FRS, is a British dynamical meteorologist and climatologist based at the Imperial College London. A mathematician by training, his research has focused on understanding atmospheric motion from the scale of fronts to that of the Earth, using a range of...
- Professor of ClimatologyClimatology is the study of climate, scientifically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of time, and is a branch of the atmospheric sciences...
, University of Reading and Director of the Grantham Institute for Climate ChangeThe Grantham Institute for Climate Change is one of four Global Institutes at Imperial College London. The Institute was founded in 2007 with a £12m donation from the Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, an organisation set up by Hannelore and Jeremy Grantham.The Institute...
, Imperial College LondonImperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...
- Crispin St. J. A. Nash-Williams
Crispin St. John Alvah Nash-Williams was a British and Canadian mathematician. His research interest was in the field of discrete mathematics, especially graph theory....
- was a professor of MathematicsMathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
at the University of Reading
- Richard Rado
Richard Rado FRS was a Jewish German mathematician. He earned two Ph.D.s: in 1933 from the University of Berlin, and in 1935 from the University of Cambridge. He was interviewed in Berlin by Lord Cherwell for a scholarship given by the chemist Sir Robert Mond which provided financial support to...
- was a professor of MathematicsMathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
at the University of Reading
- Keith Shine
Keith P. Shine FRS is the head of the Atmospheric Radiation and Climate group and previous head of department at the University of Reading's meteorology department. He was a lead author of Climate Change 1995, the 1995 IPCC report on global warming. He held the University's annual Children's...
- Professor of ClimatologyClimatology is the study of climate, scientifically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of time, and is a branch of the atmospheric sciences...
, University of Reading
- Sir Frank Stenton
Sir Frank Merry Stenton was a 20th century historian of Anglo-Saxon England, and president of the Royal Historical Society . He was the author of Anglo-Saxon England, a volume of the Oxford History of England, first published in 1943 and widely considered a classic history of the period...
- was a professor of HistoryHistory is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
at the University of Reading
- Percy & Annie Ure
Percy Neville Ure M.A. was the University of Reading's first Professor of Classics and the founder of the Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology at Reading. His wife and former pupil at Reading, Annie Dunman Ure , was the museum's first Curator from 1922 until her death...
- husband and wife team. Percy was the first professor of classics at Reading and Annie was the curator of the Ure Museum of Greek ArchaeologyThe Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology forms part of the Department of Classics at the University of Reading. It is situated on the university's Whiteknights Campus, about from the centre of the English town of Reading....
- Andrew Wallace-Hadrill
Andrew Wallace-Hadrill MA, DPhil, OBE, FBA is the Master of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, and was formerly director of the British School at Rome....
- Director of the British School at RomeThe British School at Rome was established in 1901 and granted a Royal Charter in 1912 as an educational institute in the fields of archaeology, literature, music, and history of Rome and Italy of every period, and for the study of the fine arts and architecture...
and professor of ClassicsClassics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
, University of Reading
- Kevin Warwick
Kevin Warwick is a British scientist and professor of cybernetics at the University of Reading, Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom...
- Professor of CyberneticsCybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of regulatory systems. Cybernetics is closely related to information theory, control theory and systems theory, at least in its first-order form...
, University of Reading
Notable alumni
Academics
- Ash Amin
Ash Amin FBA AcSS is a professor of geography at the University of Cambridge and formally at Durham University, UK. He graduated from the University of Reading in 1979 with a first-class degree in Italian Studies and then gained a PhD in geography from Reading in 1986...
- Professor of GeographyGeography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
, Durham UniversityThe University of Durham, commonly known as Durham University, is a university in Durham, England. It was founded by Act of Parliament in 1832 and granted a Royal Charter in 1837...
- L.J.F. Brimble
Lionel John Farnham Brimble was a botanist, author, Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and editor of Nature magazine.-Early life:...
, botanist and editor of NatureNature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
magazine
- Sir Clifford Charles Butler
Sir Clifford Charles Butler FRS was an English physicist, best known for the discovery of the hyperon and meson types of particles...
- co-discoverer of hyperonIn particle physics, a hyperon is any baryon containing one or more strange quarks, but no charm quarks or bottom quarks.-Properties and behavior of hyperons:...
s and mesonIn particle physics, mesons are subatomic particles composed of one quark and one antiquark, bound together by the strong interaction. Because mesons are composed of sub-particles, they have a physical size, with a radius roughly one femtometer: 10−15 m, which is about the size of a proton...
s, Professor of PhysicsPhysics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
at Imperial College LondonImperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...
, Vice-chancellor of Loughborough UniversityLoughborough University is a research based campus university located in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, in the East Midlands of England...
- Stephen E. Calvert
Stephen E. “Steve” Calvert, PhD, FRSC is an award-winning Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia. He has specialized in the study of chemical and geochemical oceanography...
- Emeritus Professor of GeologyGeology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
, University of British ColumbiaThe University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
- Michael Cox
Michael E. Cox is a British academic and international relations scholar. He is currently a professor of international relations at the London School of Economics , where he is Co-Director of LSE IDEAS...
- Professor of International RelationsInternational relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
, London School of EconomicsThe London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
- Sir Peter Crane
Sir Peter Crane, FRS is a former Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, London. He is a fellow of the Royal Society, a foreign associate of the United States National Academy of Sciences and a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences since 2002. He was awarded a knighthood on...
– Professor of BotanyBotany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
at Yale UniversityYale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
- Andrew Dobson
Andrew Dobson is a British political author and Professor at Keele University, specialising in environmental politics.Dobson has a BA in Politics from the University of Reading and D.Phil in Politics from St John's College, Oxford...
- Professor of Political SciencePolitical Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
, Keele UniversityKeele University is a campus university near Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as an experimental college dedicated to a broad curriculum and interdisciplinary study, Keele is most notable for pioneering the dual honours degree in Britain...
- Sean Holly
Sean Holly is an economist currently working at the University of Cambridge . He previously held a Professorship at the University of Sheffield. He is the Dean of Fitzwilliam College...
- Professor of EconomicsEconomics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, University of CambridgeThe 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...
- Jolyon Howorth
Jolyon Michael Howorth is a British scholar of European politics and military policy. He is currently Jean Monnet Professor of European Politics at the University of Bath and also a Visiting Professor of Political Science at Yale University...
- Professor of European politics, University of BathThe University of Bath is a campus university located in Bath, United Kingdom. It received its Royal Charter in 1966....
and Visiting Professor of Political SciencePolitical Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
at Yale UniversityYale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
- Michael Leifer
Michael Leifer was a British International Relations scholar specialising in the politics and international relations of South East Asia...
- was a professor of International RelationsInternational relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
at the London School of EconomicsThe London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
- David Marks
David F. Marks is a psychologist who is largely concerned with four areas of psychological research - health psychology, cognitive psychology, parapsychology and IQ score variations...
- Professor of PsychologyPsychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, City University London
- Dragan Marušič
Dragan Marušič is a Slovene mathematician.His research focuses on topics in algebraic graph theory, particularly the symmetry of graphs and the action of finite groups on combinatorial objects. In 2002, he helped show that the Gray graph is the smallest cubic semi-symmetric graph, resolving a...
– Professor of MathematicsMathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
at the University of LjubljanaThe University of Ljubljana is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. With 64,000 enrolled graduate and postgraduate students, it is among the largest universities in Europe.-Beginnings:...
- Avi Shlaim
Avi Shlaim FBA is a British/Israeli historian. He is a professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford and a fellow of the British Academy.Shlaim is especially well known as a historian of the Arab-Israeli conflict...
- Professor of International RelationsInternational relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
, University of OxfordThe University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
- John Turner
John Napier Wyndham Turner, PC, CC, QC is an English Canadian lawyer and retired politician, who served as the 17th Prime Minister of Canada from June 30 to September 17, 1984....
- Professor of EngineeringEngineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
and Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of PortsmouthThe University of Portsmouth is a university in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. The University was ranked 60th out of 122 in The Sunday Times University Guide...
- A. E. Wilder-Smith
Professor Arthur Ernest Wilder-Smith, Ph.D. , Dr. es Science , D. Sc., P.D., F.R.S.C. , more commonly known as A. E. Wilder-Smith, was an organic-chemist, humanitarian, lecturer and author.-Biography:He became a professor of pharmacology at the University of Illinois Medical Center in 1963...
– creationist and chemistA chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
Politics
- Anton Apriantono
Anton Apriantono has been Indonesia's Minister of Agriculture since October 2004. He studied at the University of Reading and currently is a faculty in Department of Food Science and Technology at Bogor Agricultural University.-External links:*...
– food technology scientist, serving as IndonesiaIndonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
's Minister of Agriculture since 2004
- Edison James
Edison Chenfil James was the prime minister of Dominica from June 14, 1995 to February 3, 2000 as well as the Member of Parliament for the Marigot constituency from 1990. He graduated from the Dominica Grammar School...
– Prime MinisterA prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
of DominicaDominica , officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island nation in the Lesser Antilles region of the Caribbean Sea, south-southeast of Guadeloupe and northwest of Martinique. Its size is and the highest point in the country is Morne Diablotins, which has an elevation of . The Commonwealth...
1995-2000, Leader of the OppositionThe Leader of the Opposition of the Commonwealth of Dominica is the Member of Parliament who leads the Official Opposition in the House of Assembly of Dominica...
, 1990–1995 and 2000-2007
- Jan Kavan
Jan Kavan is a Czech diplomat and politician.-Biography:Kavan was born in London, the son of a Czech diplomat, Pavel Kavan, and a British teacher, Rosemary Kavan. His father was arrested and tried in a Czech show trial in the 1950s; his mother later wrote a memoir, Love and Freedom.He is a member...
– CzechThe Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
diplomat and politician
- Mike Penning
Michael Alan "Mike" Penning MP is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Hemel Hempstead and is a junior Transport minister.-Early life and career:...
– ConservativeThe Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Member of ParliamentA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for the Hemel Hempstead parliamentary constituencyHemel Hempstead is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Boundaries :...
- Dimeji Bankole
Oladimeji Sabur Bankole is a Nigerian politician and former Speaker of the House of Representatives. The son of Abeokuta chief, Alani Bankole, he was a businessman before being elected to the House...
– is a NigeriaNigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
n politician and Speaker of the House of Representatives of Nigeria
- Rob Wilson
Robert Owen Biggs Wilson is a United Kingdom politician and entrepreneur. He was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for the Reading East parliamentary constituency in the 2005 general election.-Early life:...
– ConservativeThe Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Member of ParliamentA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for the Reading East parliamentary constituency
- Hugh Robertson (politician) - Conservative
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Member of ParliamentA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Faversham and Mid KentFaversham and Mid Kent is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...
- Mark Prisk
Michael Mark Prisk is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He is the Member of Parliament for Hertford and Stortford, and was appointed Minister of State for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in May 2010...
- ConservativeThe Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Member of ParliamentA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Hertford and StortfordHertford and Stortford is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...
Music
- Arthur Brown
Arthur Brown is an English rock and roll musician best known for his flamboyant, theatrical style and significant influence on Alice Cooper, Peter Gabriel, Marilyn Manson, George Clinton, Kiss, King Diamond, and Bruce Dickinson, among others, and for his number one hit in the UK Singles Chart and...
– rock and rollRock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
singer
- Jamie Cullum
Jamie Cullum is an English pop and jazz-pop singer-songwriter. Though he is primarily a vocalist/pianist he also accompanies himself on other instruments including guitar and drums. Since April 2010, he has been presenting a weekly jazz show on BBC Radio 2, broadcast on Tuesdays from 19:00.- Early...
– jazzJazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
pianistA pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
and singer
- Hilary James
Hilary James is a British musician. A vocalist and multi-instrumentalist she plays guitar, mando-bass and is a singer, and songwriter. She works mostly with her partner Simon Mayor and with their ensemble the Mandolinquents...
– singer, double bassist, guitaristA guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
, and mando-bassist
- Liam Howe
Liam Coverdale Howe is a London based record producer, musician and songwriter.- Musical beginnings :...
- music producer, musician, formed the band Sneaker pimpsSneaker Pimps were a British trip-hop band formed in Hartlepool, England in 1994. They are best known for their first album Becoming X and particularly the singles "6 Underground", "Spin Spin Sugar", and "Tesko Suicide" from the same album...
with David Westlake and Joe Wilson (musician)Joe Wilson is a British record producer and musician, best known for his work with Sneaker Pimps. He has exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London and The CCA in Glasgow. as well as producing music for films for Channel 4 and the BBC...
also alumni
- Simon Mayor
Simon Mayor is a mandolinist and fiddle player, guitarist, and composer.- Works :With his solo debut The Mandolin Album in 1990 he embarked on a series of recordings to give the mandolin a uniquely British voice. The CD was made Recording of the Week on BBC Radio 2...
– mandolinist, fiddle player, guitaristA guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
, and composerA composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
- Andy MacKay
Andrew "Andy" Mackay is an English multi-instrumentalist, best known as a founder member of the art-rock group Roxy Music....
- member of the band Roxy Music
- Martin Noble
Martin Noble is the lead guitarist with UK indie rock band British Sea Power.Born 28 January 1986 in Bury, Greater Manchester, and raised in Leeds, West Yorkshire, his first musical experience was as keyboard player in Blind, a band he formed with school friends.He joined British Sea Power after...
– musician, Noble in the band British Sea PowerBritish Sea Power are an indie rock band based in Brighton, England, although three of the band members originally come from Kendal in Cumbria. Critics have likened their sound to a variety of groups, from The Cure and Joy Division to the Pixies and Arcade Fire. The band are famed for their live...
- Edmund Rubbra
Edmund Rubbra was a British composer. He composed both instrumental and vocal works for soloists, chamber groups and full choruses and orchestras. He was greatly esteemed by fellow musicians and was at the peak of his fame in the mid-20th century. The most famous of his pieces are his eleven...
- composer
- Twelfth Night
Twelfth Night are an English neo-progressive rock band of the 1980s, reformed in 2007.-Formation:The seeds of Twelfth Night were sown when guitarist Andy Revell and drummer Brian Devoil joined forces on 23 February 1978 to win a talent competition at Reading University. The road crew included Geoff...
- progressive rockProgressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
band active 1978-1987, formed at Reading University by five alumni
- Julian Wagstaff
Julian Wagstaff is a Scottish composer of classical music and musical theatre.Born in Edinburgh, Wagstaff originally majored in German language and politics, and graduated from the University of Reading in 1993. Wagstaff worked as a translator and interpreter in the German language before turning...
- composer
- Scott Wilkinson – musician and composer, Yan in the band British Sea Power
British Sea Power are an indie rock band based in Brighton, England, although three of the band members originally come from Kendal in Cumbria. Critics have likened their sound to a variety of groups, from The Cure and Joy Division to the Pixies and Arcade Fire. The band are famed for their live...
Sport
- Cath Bishop
Catherine Bishop is a former British rower.She was educated at Westcliff High School for Girls. Bishop has a BA in modern languages from Pembroke College, Cambridge, a master's in international politics from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth and a Ph.D...
– Rowing Olympic silver medallist
- James Cracknell
James Cracknell, OBE is a British rowing champion and double Olympic gold medalist and adventurer. Cracknell is married to TV and radio presenter Beverley Turner; they have three children. In the New Year Honours List, 2004, he was appointed OBE for services to sport...
– rowingRowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...
champion and double OlympicThe Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
gold medallist
- Debbie Flood
Deborah Kirsty "Debbie" Flood is an English female rower, noteworthy for winning Silver Medals in the Quadruple Sculls at both the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games....
– rowingRowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...
champion, quadruple sculls silver medallist at the 2004 OlympicsThe Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
- Gary Herbert – rowing
Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...
won Olympic gold with Greg and Jonny Searl in the coxed pair in Barcelona 1992 OlympicsThe Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
- Molly Hide
Mary Edith Hide was an English cricketer. She was one of the great early women cricketers in England, and captained England for 17 years. In 1973 she was president of the Women's Cricket Association....
, captained English women's cricket teamThe England women's cricket team played their first Test match in 1934–35, when they beat Australia 2–0 in a three-Test series. Their current captain is Charlotte Edwards, replacing Clare Connor after her five-year tenure, which she finished by leading England to their first Ashes series win since...
for seventeen years
- Will Hoy
William Ewing Hoy , was a British racing driver and the 1991 British Touring Car Champion, the highlight of a 20-year career in motor racing. Born in Melbourn, Cambridgeshire, Hoy did not begin racing until his late 20s and first raced at international level in 1985, taking on the full World...
, British Touring Car Champion
- Anna Bebington
Anna Rose Watkins is a British rower. She competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics, where she won a bronze medal in Double Sculls and has won 4 medals in the World Championships, most recently a successful defense of her world title with Katherine Grainger, in Bled, Slovenia in...
- Olympic rower (who won a bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics in 2008)
Broadcasting
- Julian Barratt
Julian Barratt is an English comedian, musician, music producer and actor. Barratt is best known for playing the character of Howard Moon in the cult comedy The Mighty Boosh, which he also co-writes with comedy partner, Noel Fielding.-The Mighty Boosh:Barratt stars as the character Howard Moon...
– comedianA comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
from BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's The Mighty BooshThe 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...
- Keith Bosley
Keith Bosley is a British poet and language expert.Bosley was born in Bourne End, Buckinghamshire, grew up in Maidenhead, Berkshire...
– former BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
broadcaster and prizewinning poetPoetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
and translator
- Richard Holmes
Brigadier Edward Richard Holmes, CBE, TD, JP , known as Richard Holmes, was a British soldier and noted military historian, particularly well-known through his many television appearances...
– noted military historian and televisionTelevision is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
presenter
- Kaddy Lee-Preston
Kathryn "Kaddy" Lee-Preston is a British meteorologist and weather presenter on BBC South East, and regular broadcaster on BBC Radio Kent.Educated at Bradfield College and Reading University she then trained as a meteorologist, spending time as a forecaster for the RAF, gas and electricity...
, TV weather presenter
- Julian Richards
Julian Richards FSA, MIFA is a British television and radio presenter, writer and archaeologist with over 30 years experience of fieldwork and publication.-Early career:...
– archaeologist and broadcaster
- Richard Sambrook
Richard Sambrook is Global Vice Chairman and Chief Content Officer of the Edelman public relations agency. For 30 years, until February 2010, he was a BBC journalist and news executive, becoming successively Director of BBC Sport, BBC News and, latterly, Director of BBC World Service and Global...
– Director of the BBC World ServiceThe BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
- Tomasz Schafernaker
Tomasz Schafernaker is a Polish-British metereologist and forecaster for the Met Office, who appeared on BBC Weather until 2010.- Early life and career :...
, TV weather presenter
- Laura Tobin
Laura Elizabeth Brown , is an English broadcast meteorologist, working for the United Kingdom Met Office and the BBC, producing BBC Weather reports for BBC Television and BBC Online....
, TV weather presenter
- Jay Wynne
Jay Wynne is a BBC Weather forecaster, appearing mainly on BBC News 24, BBC Radio 4, BBC World and BBC One.He is a main weather presenter on the BBC Ten O'Clock News, and previously the BBC Six O'Clock News and the BBC One O'Clock News....
, TV weather presenter
Writing & Artistry
- Steven Atkinson – theatre director, and artistic director of HighTide Festival Theatre
- Wilfred Owen
Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC was an English poet and soldier, one of the leading poets of the First World War...
- War poet
- Robert Gillmor
Robert Gillmor is an ornithologist, artist, illustrator, author and editor, from England. He is a founder member of the Society of Wildlife Artists and has been its Secretary, Chairman and President...
– ornithologist, artistAn artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, illustratorAn Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
, authorAn author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and editorEditing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
- Kathleen Hale
Kathleen Hale was a British artist, illustrator, and children's author. She is best remembered for her series of books about Orlando the Marmalade Cat....
- artist and children's author, best remembered for the Orlando the Marmalade Cat series
- Mike Nelson
Michael "Mike" Nelson is a contemporary British installation artist. He represented Britain at the Venice Biennale in 2011. Nelson has twice been nominated for the Turner Prize: first in 2001 , and again in 2007 .-Working practice:Nelson's installations typically exist only for the time period...
- installation artInstallation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...
ist
- Joan Smith
Joan Alison Smith is an English novelist, journalist and human rights activist, who is a former chair of the Writers in Prison committee in the English section of International PEN.-Life and work:...
– novelist and journalist
- Richard Wilson
Richard Wilson is a sculptor, installation artist and musician.Born in Islington, in London, he studied at the London College of Printing, Hornsey College of Art and Reading University...
– installation artInstallation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...
ist
- Jeff Evans
Jeff Evans is a British writer and journalist. He is the author the Good Bottled Beer Guide, and was the editor of the Good Beer Guide from 1991 to 1998. He has also written about television.-Biography:...
- beer writer
- David Watkins
David Watkins is a British artist who has designed the medals for the London 2012 Olympics. Watkins was also the special effects maker for the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. He is a graduate of the University of Reading ....
- Designer of the London 2012 Olympics medals
Military
- Lieutenant-Colonel Rupert Thorneloe
Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Stuart Michael Thorneloe MBE was a British Army officer who was killed in action on 1 July 2009 near Lashkar Gah, Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan. , Thorneloe is the highest-ranking British Army officer to be killed in action since Lt Col 'H'...
, MBEMBE can stand for:* Mail Boxes Etc.* Management by exception* Master of Bioethics* Master of Bioscience Enterprise* Master of Business Engineering* Master of Business Economics* Mean Biased Error...
, Welsh GuardsThe Welsh Guards is an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Guards Division.-Creation :The Welsh Guards came into existence on 26 February 1915 by Royal Warrant of His Majesty King George V in order to include Wales in the national component to the Foot Guards, "..though the order...
, killed in action in Afghanistan on 1 July 2009
Others
- Eve Balfour – farmer, educator, organic farming
Organic farming is the form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and control pests on a farm...
pioneer, and a founding figure in the organic movementThe organic movement broadly refers to the organizations and individuals involved worldwide in the promotion of organic farming, which is a more sustainable mode of agriculture...
- Azahari Husin
Dr. Azahari bin Husin was a Malaysian who was believed to be the technical mastermind behind the 2002 Bali bombing. He was killed in a police raid on his hideout in Indonesia in 2005. He was nicknamed the "Demolition Man".-History:He received extensive bomb training in Afghanistan...
– leading member of the Jemaah IslamiyahJemaah Islamiah , is a Southeast Asian militant Islamic organization dedicated to the establishment of a Daulah Islamiyah in Southeast Asia incorporating Indonesia, Malaysia, the southern Philippines, Singapore and Brunei...
group, believed to have been involved in the 2005 Bali bombing
- Robin Bextor
Robin Bextor is an English film and television producer and director. He is the father of the dance-pop singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor....
– award-winning film and television director, and father of Sophie Ellis Bextor
- Clive Ponting
Clive Ponting is a British writer, former academic and former senior civil servant. He is the author of a number of revisionist books on British and world history...
– civil servant who faced trial for the leaking of information on the sinking of the BelgranoThe ARA General Belgrano was an Argentine Navy light cruiser in service from 1951 until 1982. Formerly the , she saw action in the Pacific theater of World War II before being sold to Argentina. After almost 31 years of service, she was sunk during the Falklands War by the Royal Navy submarine ...
, during the Falklands WarThe Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
- Peter Romary
Peter Romary is a British born American attorney, mediator, arbitrator and diplomat living in Greenville, North Carolina. He is a lawyer, and trainer in the United States...
- attorney in the USA, philanthropist and humanitarian. Recipient of the 2002 National Law Journal Pro Bono Attorney of the Year Award
- Wei Tang
Tang Wei is a Chinese actress. She rose to prominence for her appearance in Lust, Caution.-1979–2006: Early life and beginnings:...
– actress, star of Ang LeeAng Lee is a Taiwanese film director. Lee has directed a diverse set of films such as Eat Drink Man Woman , Sense and Sensibility , Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , Hulk , and Brokeback Mountain , for which he won an Academy...
's Lust, Caution
- John Tabatabai
John Tabatabai is a Welsh professional poker player based in London, England. He was the runner-up to Norwegian poker player Annette Obrestad in the first World Series of Poker Europe Main Event. He is currently sponsored by Betfair....
- law graduate turned professional poker player
Business
- Nick Candy - Co-Founder and partner of high end property development company, Candy & Candy, London
- Nicky Kinnaird
Nicky Kinnaird MBE is the Belfast-born founder and president of British cosmetic retailer Space NK. Kinnaird’s initials, NK, make up the end part of the company’s name. She attended the University of Reading....
- founder and president of British cosmetic retailer Space NK
External links