Westminster School

Westminster School (in full, The Royal College of St. Peter at Westminster, but almost always referred to as Westminster School, or even just Westminster, for short) is an ancient English public school, located by Westminster Abbey in Westminster, in central London, and with a history stretching back to the 12th century. Its A-level results over many of the past 20 years, including both 2004 and 2005, have been the highest in the country. The Head Master up to July 2005 was Tristram Jones-Parry, who has been replaced by Dr. Stephen Spurr.

Former pupils

:Fuller list: List of former pupils of Westminster

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The following people were educated at Westminster, and can be recorded with OW (Old Westminster) after their name (collectively, OWW):

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• Ben Jonson (1573 – 1637), poet and dramatist
• George Herbert (1593 – 1633), public orator and poet
• John Dryden (1631 – 1700), poet and playwright
• John Locke (1632 – 1704), philosopher
• Sir Christopher Wren (1632 – 1723), architect and scientist, co-founder of the Royal Society
• Robert Hooke FRS SRS (1635 – 1703), British scientist
• Henry Purcell (1659 – 1695), composer
• Charles Wesley (1707 – 1788), Methodist preacher and writer of over 6,000 hymns
• Edward Gibbon FRS (1737 – 1794), historian
• Jeremy Bentham (1748 – 1832), lawyer, eccentric, and philosopher
• Lewis Carroll (1832 – 1898), author
• A. A. Milne (1882 – 1956), author and journalist
• Sir Adrian Boult (1889 – 1983), conductor
• Sir John Gielgud (1904 – 2000), actor and director
• Sir Peter Ustinov (1921 – 2004), actor, writer and director
• Rudolf von Ribbentrop (born 1921), son of the German ambassador and later German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop
• Tony Benn (born 1925), politician
• Peter Brook (born 1925), theatre director
• Nigel Lawson (born 1932), former Chancellor of the Exchequer
• Andrew Lloyd Webber (born 1948), composer and producer
• Martin Amis (born 1949) , novelist
• Stephen Poliakoff ( born 1952) , director, playwright and television dramatist
• Shane MacGowan (born 1957), musician
• Matt Frei (born 1963), foreign correspondent for BBC News
• Helena Bonham Carter (born 1966), actress
• Noreena Hertz (born 1967), economist and campaigner
• Ruth Kelly (born 1968), Cabinet minister
• Dido Armstrong (born 1971), British musician under the name "Dido"