X-Nico

6 unusual facts about Oxford Union


Gill Langley

In April 2006, she was a member of the panel at the Oxford Union that debated whether "This house would not test on animals."

John Donvan

Donvan also serves as moderator of Intelligence Squared, US, a forum that gathers together experts to debate propositions concerning serious topics of public interest in Oxford Union-style debates which may be heard on NPR, and seen on Bloomberg TV or YouTube.

Johnny Bassett

The band performed always on Saturday evenings and usually throughout the week in the Union cellars (a part of the Oxford Union buildings and grounds, which had just been opened by Michael Heseltine, at that time the Union President).

Lucinda Hawksley

Hawksley's 'Essential Pre-Raphaelites' (1999) has become a best seller and led to an invitation to lecture on 'Pre-Raphaelite Artists: The Connection Between Their Lives and Work' at the Oxford Union.

Oxford Union murals

The Oxford Union murals (1857–1859) are a series of mural decorations in the Oxford Union library building.

The Twilight of Atheism

McGrath states that the book is an expanded form of a speech he gave at a debate in February 2002 at the Oxford Union.


Andrew Pelling

He was educated at the Trinity School, Croydon and then New College, Oxford where he led the Oxford University Conservative Association He was elected to the position of Librarian of the Oxford Union, a senior position, and ran for President several times without being elected, on one occasion losing to William Hague.

Jack Dash

Dash, who was interested in poetry and would quote Samuel Butler or Robert Browning in his speeches, was often invited to address prestigious bodies: he spoke at 40 student meetings, and opposed the motion 'This House would outlaw unofficial strikes' at the Oxford Union debating society.

Kenelm Hutchinson Digby

He was the cousin of Kenelm Hubert Digby, the proposer of the notorious 1933 "King and Country" debate in the Oxford Union, and later Attorney General and judge in Sarawak.

Peter Hain

In 1971 director John Goldschmidt produced a film for Granada's World in Action programme featuring Peter Hain debating Apartheid in South Africa at the Oxford Union.

Public image of David Irving

Irving and BNP leader Nick Griffin were invited to speak at a forum on free speech at the Oxford Union on 26 November 2007, along with Anne Atkins and Evan Harris.

Robert V. Jackson

He was raised in Nkana, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) where his father worked on the copper mines and was educated at Falcon College in Rhodesia and St Edmund Hall, Oxford, where he rose to the presidency of the Oxford Union.

William Milman

William Henry Milman (1824 - 1908) was an English rower, clergyman and librarian who was president of the Oxford Union and of Sion College.


see also

Bernard Braden Reads Stephen Leacock

Bernard Braden Reads Stephen Leacock is a spoken word record, performed by Bernard Braden, and was recorded in front of a live audience at the Oxford Union Society.

Esther McVey

McVey has debated at the Oxford Union and took part in Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues at the Empire Theatre, Liverpool.