Arts & Media

ACTORS & THEATRE

Burgess, John C
1964
Literary Manager of the National Theatre, the post first held by Kenneth Tynan (1945).

Carey, John
1996
Five times world irish dance champion who took part in Riverdance and Lord of the Dance.

Cooper, George Melville
1915 (c)
Actor on stage and screen.

Huntley, Raymond
1922
Actor on stage, in films and television.

Joseph, Nathan
1957
Entrepreneur; has been successful on both sides of the Atlantic in music publishing and is now a theatrical producer and agent; member of the Council of the Theatrical Managers' Association, and of the Theatre Advisory Council.

Lee, Kevin (Kevin Elyot)
1970
Actor in theatre and on television; writer of plays, television adaptations of Agatha Christie and other works; winner of the Writers Guild Award (1991).

Reese, Walter Llewellyn
1920
Actor; general secretary of British Actors Equity (1940-1946); administrator of the Old Vic (1949-1951) and other theatres

Spicer, Charles
1973
Actor.

Wattis, Richard
1926
Actor on stage, in films and television.

ARTISTS

Burne-Jones, Edward Coley
1852
Kt; Artist, one of the leading members of the pre-Raphaelite movement; friend of Dixon (1852).

Cox, David
1795
Artist; according to The Dictionary of National Biography, attended the grammar school in Birmingham "for a short time".

Harvey, Neil
1978
Artist.

MUSICIANS

Deathridge, John W
1963
Musician; Wagner buff; Fellow of King's College, Cambridge (1983? - ).

Downes, Edward
1939
Conductor. Associate Music Director, Covent Garden, from 1991.  Director of the Australian Opera, Principal Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic and the Netherlands Radio Orchestra. Kt (1991).

Foxley, Ray G
1947
Jazz Musician

Goulding, Fraser J
1966
Director of Music and permanent conductor, D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from 1979 until its closure in 1982; since then, a freelance conductor.

Gray, Jeremy
1972
Founder of the Bampton Classical Opera.

Jordan, John
1959
FRCO; Master of Music, Chelmsford Cathedral (1965-1981); President of the Incorporated Association of Organists (1975-1977); Director of Music Studies, Yamaha School of Music, Kuching, Sarawak (1988-1991).

Munrow, David B
1960
Musician extraordinary; a dynamic pioneer in the performance and dissemination of medieval music; a brilliant deviser of radio programmes about music.

Myers, Stanley
1945
Composer of ‘Cavatina' for guitarist John Williams (theme of movie ‘The Deerhunter') and much other music for film and television.

Oxley, T Frederick Harrison
1951
FRCO; organist and Master of the Choristers, St Edmundsbury Cathedral (1958-1984); conductor of the St Edmundsbury Bach Choir and Orchestra (1958-2001); recitalist.

MEDIA

Austin, Timothy D
1961
Chief Revise Editor of The Times.

Barber, John Herbert
1929 (c)
Theatre critic on the Daily Express and Daily Telegraph; script editor for BBC Television.

Carlish, Max
1985
British documentary film-maker, won a BAFTA award for a series on the Royal Opera House

Duval, Robin
1960
Director of the British Board of Film Classification.

Edwards, Ernest G
1900
Sporting journalist and broadcaster in Liverpool, Sports Editor of the Liverpool Echo (1902- ), responsible for naming ‘Spion Kop' at Anfield.

Franks, Tim
1986
BBC Middle East Correspondant.

Gibbs, Jonathan
1975
Head of editing and post-production sound at the BBC Television Centre.

Grant, Jim (aka Lee Child)
1972
Novelist, famous for his Jack Reacher novels.  His first novel, Killing Floor, won the Anthony Award for Best First Novel.  His latest, and 13th, novel, Gone Tomorrow, which was published in 2009 reached Number One in the US book charts.  He was previously presentation director at Granada TV for 18 years, involved (inter alia) in the making of Brideshead Revisited and The Jewel in the Crown.

Hadley, L P

Editor of The Birmingham Post.

Harvey, Brian
1933 (c)
Features editor of the Daily Telegraph.

Heron, R
1946
Head of Educational Broadcasting, ATV; Director of the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme.

Hoggart, Paul

Journalist for The Times, The Observer

Holland, Julian
1943
Journalist and broadcaster, ultimately editor of BBC Radio ‘Today' program.

Hutton, Thomas W
1907
Editor of the Birmingham Post; historian of the school and governor.

Kemp, T C
1909
Drama critic and author.

Miles, James
1979
BBC Journalist. Won the Sony Radio Journalist of the Year Award for his coverage of events in China 1989.

Millar, Gavin
1956
For many years film correspondent of the Listener; broadcaster and film director; author of books on film.

Nathan-Turner, John
1966 (c)
TV producer of Dr Who (1980-1989) and other shows.

Oddie, William E (Bill)
1960
Humorist, entertainer, scriptwriter, television performer, bird-watcher. Winner of the Silver Rose Award at the Montreux Festival.

Redpath, William
1909
Newspaper editor, United Newspapers

Steyn, Mark
1978
Canadian journalist, broadcaster, theatre and movie critic, current affairs writer, authority on musicals.

Tayar, Graham J
1951
Executive Producer, BBC Schools Radio; Head of Audio/Radio for the SAAG Consortium; Media/Education Consultant.

Vince, Charles
1906
Journalist and writer.

Williams, F Conde

Editor of the Birmingham Gazette.

Winn, Godfrey
1924
Journalist and broadcaster; South of England Junior Lawn Tennis Champion at the age of 13.

Witherow, David
1955
Deputy Director, BBC World Service.

WRITERS

Allen, Grant
19th C
Scientific writer and novelist.

Coe, Jonathan
1979
Novelist and novel reviewer for the Guardian newspaper; among his novels are The Rotters' Club and The Closed Circle, featuring characters at a fictional equivalent of KES.

Coney, Michael Greatrex
1949
Science-fiction novelist.

Drury, Alan

Radio dramatist

Dunstan, Frederick
1979
Novelist and artist.

Grant, Jim (aka Lee Child)
1972
Novelist, famous for his Jack Reacher novels.  His first novel, Killing Floor, won the Anthony Award for Best First Novel.  His latest, and 13th, novel, Gone Tomorrow, which was published in 2009 reached Number One in the US book charts.  He was previously presentation director at Granada TV for 18 years, involved (inter alia) in the making of Brideshead Revisited and The Jewel in the Crown.

Griffiths, Paul A
1965
Music critic of The Times; novelist and librettist.  He was named a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2011.

Hayes, Alfred
1876
Poet, writer of two KES school songs

Lewis, Roy
1931 (c)
Journalist and writer; his books included a science fiction novel, The Evolution Man, which was a best-seller in its French translation and was made into a film cartoon in Czechoslovakia.

Lyall, Gavin
1951
Journalist, television producer and novelist.


McCarty, Nicholas
1958
Television dramatist.  Award winning writer of radio drama series and serials as well as many original plays.

Mitford, Bertram
Major, winning distinction in Egypt; writer of adventure stories

Morton, Henry Vollam
1909
Author of books largely about places, accompanied Churchill at his Atlantic Charter meeting with Roosevelt, as recorded in his book The Atlantic Meeting.

Rudkin, David
1955
Dramatist and translator.

Ryder, Rowland V
1933
Biographer and cricket writer; biographies include Edith Cavell, Ravenstein and Sir Oliver Leese.

Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel
1911
CBE; Professor of English Language at Leeds University (1924); Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford (1925-1945); Merton Professor of English Language and Literature at Oxford (1945-1959); celebrated author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Tynan, Kenneth Peacock
1945
Brilliant drama critic of the Observer newspaper (1954-1963); propagandist for the drama of Bertold Brecht when it was hardly ever seen on the English stage; Literary Adviser to the National Theatre (1963- ); one of the authors of the erotic revue 'Oh! Calcutta!' (1969).