Past Speakers and Events

A selection of speakers, famous members, guests of The Whitefriars Club and of their members

Note ‘Friar’ indicates a speaker’s membership of the Club beyond their year’s honorary membership. This list will be expanded as and when information comes to hand.

For those speakers in blue, click to find further details of their speeches.

Jump to: The more distant past | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022

2022

26th January: Dinner with Phillip Bergson
23rd February: Dinner with Alison Steadman
23rd March: Dinner with Commander Michael Codner RN
27th April: Dr Kathryn Harkup
25th May: AGM with a talk on E.L. Blanchard by Club Archivist Friar Colin Smythe

2021

24th March: AGM
28th April: Italian Wine Evening with Andrea Franchetti and Count Gelasio Gaetani d’Aragona
25th August: Summer Excursion around Wimbledon
22nd September: Dinner with Geoffrey Wansell
27th October: Dinner with Jonathan Keates
24th November: Christmas Spirited Dinner with Alex Sprackling and the Whitefriars Sextet

2020

22nd January: Richard Stokes on English Song
26th February: Enrico Franceschini on “Living to Write – Writing for a Living”
22nd April: AGM (via Zoom)
27th May: A virtual toast to the Whitefriars Club
23rd September: Vince Cable on “Has Centrist Politics Disappeared?”
1st December: Whitefriars Gala Zoomfest

2019

30th January: Kate Mosse
27th February: Anthony McCarten
27th March: Lisa Hilton
27th April: Sir Anthony Beevor
22nd May: AGM with anecdotes from friars Ivan Elliott, Bryan Lincoln and Colin Smythe, and a word from Friar Heather Morley
25th September: Fun with wine: Wine-tasting evening with Robin Baum, Master of Wine
23rd October: Nigel Newton, CEO of Bloomsbury: A Tale of Three Valleys
27th November: Sir John Tomlinson

2018

24th January: Jerry Hayes
22nd February: 150th Anniversary of the Whitefriars Club at the Palace of Westminster, with the Bishop of London with the Rt. Hon. and Rt. Rev. Richard Chartres
28th March: Geoffrey Munn, jewellery specialist
25th April: Dele Ogun, Friar
23rd May: 150th Anniversary AGM with a talk from Friar Jeff Anderson
18th September: Robert Rogers, Lord Lisvane
24th October: A.N. Wilson
28th November: A Musical Evening with Rachel Verney and Ian Ritchie, in aid of Three Peas

2017

25th January: Musical Tribute to the late Mary Baum, past Chairman of the Club
22nd February: Rt Hon. The Lord Astor of Hever DL
22nd March: Lord Paddy Ashdown
26th April: Sir John Timpson on his newly-released book, Keys to Success
24th May: AGM with a talk from Friar Jean-François Dor
27th September: The Rt. Hon. Sir Malcolm Rifkind
25th October: The Rt. Hon. Sir Antony Baldry
22nd November: Charity evening for the benefit of Children in Distress

2016

21st January: Nicholas Coleridge: A Life in Magazine Publishing
24th February: Stephen Barber: The Art of Storytelling
26th April: Francesco da Mosto: A Shakespearian Odyssey
21st September: Stephen Page: The Future of the Book
19th October: Charles Moore, with a preview of Volume II of his Biography of Margaret Thatcher
23rd November: Charity evening for the benefit of Positive East with Lord Collins of Highbury

2015

28th January: Desmond Swayne: An MP’s Life
26th February: Field-Marshal Lord Guthrie: The Duke of Wellington
25th March: Members’ Evening: the AGM. Sir Neil Thorne: A Life in Politics
22nd April: Tim Waterstone: A Bookseller’s Life
19th May: Tania Freiin von Uslar-Gleichen: The rôle of Germany within Europe
23rd September: Jane Hawking: The Theory of Everything
21st October: Anne Widdecombe: Life After Parliament
25th November: Lord Alton: The Republic of North Korea

2014

29 January: Alessandro Gallenzi, publisher
26 February: Professor Ian Fells
23 April: Andrew Lycett
14 May: Emirhan Yorulmazlazlar, Consul General of Turkey
23 September: Major General Julian Thompson
22 October: Irma Kurtz, Cosmopolitan’s Agony Aunt
25 November: Stephen Day, former British Ambassador to Qatar and to Tunisia

2013

23 January: Anne Sebba
26 February: Air Chief Marshal Lord Stirrup KG GCB, AFC, FRAeS, FCMI
15 May: Peter Kyle, Chairman of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
25 September: Peter Conradi, co-writer of The King’s Speech
23 October: Prof. John Ashdown Hill, on finding the remains of King Richard III
26 November: John Julius Norwich (Viscount Norwich)

2012

25 January: Shelley Katz and Diana Gilchrist in concert.
21 February: Ion Trewin, publisher of the Alan Clark Diaries, Chairman of the Booker Prize
24 April: Mark Easton, BBC Home Affairs Editor
23 May: Sir Thomas Allen CBE, opera star, real-life inspiration for Billy Elliot
26 September: Diana Vernon, Headmistress of The City of London School for Girls
31 October: Susan Howe, Blue Badge Guide
22 November: Rev. Gordon Warren, Hon. Chaplain to the Royal Navy

2011

25 January: Nigel Farage, founder of UKIP, and, in 2019, the Brexit Party
24 February: The Rt Hon Lord Falconer of Thoroton, PC QC politician, Lord Chancellor 2003-07
12 April: Dr Shelley Katz, assisted by Diana Gilchrist
17 May: Rosemary Anne Sisson, author and writer for TV
27 September: Lt Col Christopher Ghika, commanding officer of 1st Battalion, Irish Guards
18 October: HE Mr Ünal Çeviköz, Turkish Ambassador. Charity evening, courtesy Friar Huseyin Özer
29 November: Esther Rantzen, CBE broadcaster (‘That’s Life’, etc) Founder of ChildLine

2010

12 January: Steven Norris MP
25 February: Lord Pearson of Rannoch
12 May: Dr Mike Maloney OBE
21 September: Patrick Spottiswoode
20 October: Major Gen. Sir Sebastian Roberts KCVO OBE
23 November: Anton Edelmann, chef

The more distant past

Jump to: A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | W | Y

A

2000 Kate Adie OBE news reporter
1930 Field Marshal, the 1st Viscount Allenby GCB GCMG GCVO
1998 Lord (Jeffrey) Archer, author
1921 Lady ‘Nancy’ Astor MP, wife of 2nd Viscount Astor

B

1907 A.J. Balfour MP, Prime Minister 1902-1905, later 1st Earl
2003 Richard Baker OBE, TV broadcaster
1904 Sir Squire Bancroft, actor manager
1902 Sir J.M.Barrie, author of, among other works, Peter Pan
1903 Max Beerbohm, essayist, parodist, caricaturist
1922 Major General John Hay Beith CBE – ‘Ian Hay’
1902, 1903, 1909 Hilaire Belloc, writer and historian
1906 Arnold Bennett, novelist
1913 Mgr Hugh Benson, leading Catholic author
2003 John Bercow MP, once Speaker of the House of Commons
1872 Ambrose Bierce, journalist, short-story writer, author of The Devil’s Dictionary
1901, 1902, 1904, 1917 Augustine Birrell KC, politician, later Chief Secretary for Ireland
1998 Colonel John Blashford-Snell OBE, explorer
1909 Andrew Bonar Law MP, future Prime Minister
1920 Lady (Violet) Bonham Carter, politician, diarist, daughter of H.H. Asquith, Prime Minister
1960 Lord Boothby, politician
1957 Bernard Braden. Famous for TV’s ‘Bedtime with Braden’, ‘On the Braden Beat’, etc
1979 Lord George-Brown, politician
1917 John Buchan [1st Baron Tweedsmuir PC GCMG GCVO CH] author and politician
1902 Friar Shan F. Bullock, author, election of
1952 Lord Burghley, athlete, politician, later 6th Marquess of Exeter
1870s Sir Richard Burton, explorer
1989 The Hon. Mrs Justice Butler Sloss, then Lord Justice of Appeal

C

1903 Friar Hall Caine, novelist
1923 The Rt Hon Neville Chamberlain MP (Guest of Friar Churchill)
1903, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1927 G. K. Chesterton, author
1899, 1902 H.E. Joseph Hodges Choate, U.S. Ambassador
1901 Friar Sir Winston Churchill OM MP (elected 1900)
1975 Sir John (‘Jock’) Colville, CB CVO Assist Private Secretary to PMs Chamberlain, Churchill, and Atlee
1907 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author
1901 Marie Corelli, novelist (sold more books than Conan Doyle, H.G. Wells and Kipling combined)
1904 Walter Crane, artist, one of foremost children’s book illustrators of his time
1999 Edwina Currie MP, politician

D

1923 Walter De La Mare OM, CH, poet, novelist
1958 Lord Denning, OM PC DL, Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, later Master of the Rolls
1906 Friar J.M.Dent, publisher, Prior of the Day
1913 Henry Fielding Dickens KC, son of Charles Dickens
1968 Tom Driberg MP, later Lord Bradwell
1920 John Drinkwater, poet and playwright
1968 The Rt Hon Sir Alec Douglas-Home KG, previously 14th Earl of Home, former Prime Minister

E

1926, 1960 Dame Edith Evans, actress
1919 Captain Edward Evans, captain of the Terra Nova, later Admiral 1st Baron Mountevans

F

1973 The Rt Hon Michael Foot MP FRSL, politician, leader of the Labour Party, 1980-83
2007 Frederick Forsyth, author (and evangelist for UKip)
1988 Sir David Frost OBE, broadcaster

G

2002 Edward Garnier QC, later Solicitor General in the Coalition
1976 Lord Goodman CH QC, solicitor & political advisor. Mr Fix-it for the Great and the Good.
1905 Sir Edward Grey, Bt, later 1st Viscount Grey of Falloden, KG PC

H

1903 H. Rider Haggard, novelist
1914 Canon J. O. Hannay – ‘George A. Birmingham’
1985, 1995 Robert Hardy CBE actor
1874 Friar Thomas Hardy OM, novelist, elected Hon Friar, 1901
1892 Friar Alfred Harmsworth, later 1st Viscount Northcliffe, election of
1892 Friar Cecil Harmsworth, later 1st Baron Harmsworth, election of
1909 Sir Robert Hart, orientalist, expert on China in the mid-19th century
1880 Bret Harte, American author and poet
1922 H.E. Colonel George Harvey, U.S. Ambassador
1998 Roy Hattersley MP, politician
1983 Sir Michael Havers, MP, Attorney General
1897 H.E. Colonel John Hay, U.S. Ambassador
1922 ‘Ian Hay’ [Major General John Hay Beith, CBE]
1975 Rt Hon. Sir Edward Heath, former Prime Minister
1885 Friar G. A. [George Alfred] Henty, election of
1968 Sir Alan [A.P.] Herbert, campaigner, novelist
1957 Fred Hoyle, astronomer, novelist
1902 William Holman Hunt OM, artist

I

1913 ‘Dean Inge’ Very Rev. William Ralph Inge KCVO, Dean of St Paul’s, author, columnist
2008 Sir Bernard Ingham. PA to Margaret Thatcher
1970 Richard Ingrams, co-founder, 2nd editor of Private Eye, later editor of The Oldie

J

1925 Jerome K Jerome, writer and humorist, author of Three Men in a Boat (1889)

K

1980 H.E. Ke Hua, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China

L

1908 Andrew Lang, poet, novelist, literary critic, collector of fairy tales
1913 Mr (later Sir) John Lavery, artist
1920 Lord Leverhulme, co-founder of Lever Bros, industrialist, philanthropist, politician
2008 Rt Hon. Peter Lilley, politician
1905 Rt. Hon. David Lloyd George, OM MP, Prime Minister 1916-22 (guest of Friar Churchill)
1907 Sir Oliver Lodge, scientist
1959 Christopher Logue, poet
1974 Lord Longford, 7th Earl, KG PC, politician, author, social reformer

M

2009 Lord McClennan of Rogart, Liberal politician
1025 The Rt Hon. Ramsay McDonald, politician, Prime Minister
1921 Compton Mackenzie, novelist, biographer, historian
1907 Frederick Macmillan, publisher
Rt Hon. Harold Macmillan, later Prime Minister, and 1st Earl of Stockton OM
1984 Rt Hon. Alexander Macmillan, 2nd Earl of Stockton
1911 Professor John Pentland Mahaffy, Provost of Trinity College Dublin
1916 ‘The Man who Dined with the Kaiser’
1904 Chev. Guglielmo Marconi, Italian inventor, pioneer in wireless telegraphy
1903 9th Duke of Marlborough (guest of Friar Churchill)
1973 Rt Hon. Reginald Maudling MP
1973 Sir Robert Mayer CH, musical philanthropist, Founder, Robert Mayer Children’s Concerts
1900 Friar George Meredith OM, novelist
1976 Sir Bernard Miles CBE, actor, founder of the Mermaid Theatre (1959) later Baron Miles
1927 The 2nd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu
Friar the 3rd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu
1979 Robert Morley, actor
2002 Sheridan Morley, TV commentator
1931 Sir Oswald Mosley, MP later founder/leader of the British Union of Fascists
1975 The Earl Mountbatten of Burma KG OM
1994 Lord Mowbray, Segrave & Stourton
1976 Frank Muir, comedian
1969 Rupert Murdoch, newspaper mogul
1902 John Murray, publisher

N

1906 Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian arctic explorer
1975 Airey Neave MP Conservative politician
1902, 1904, 1905 Henry Newbolt, then editor of the Monthly Review
1926 Beverley Nichols, author

O

1920 T.P. O’Connor MP, father of the House of Commons, orginally a journalist

P

1919 Mr Handley Page, aviation designer
1914 H.E. Dr Walter Hines Page, U.S. Ambassador, Hon. Friar
2006 Nicolas Parsons, radio and TV personality
1910 Professor Flinders Petrie, Egyptologist
1978 HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh
1910 Sir Horace Plunkett
1968 Enoch Powell MP
1990 Sir Terry Pratchett, author
1918 Major George Haven Putnam, American publisher (first came as a guest in 1905)
2002 Lord Puttnam, film producer and educator

Q

1904, 1913 Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch – ‘Q’

R

2011 Esther Rantzen CBE, TV personality, founder of ChildLine
1900 Sir Wemyss Reid, newspaper editor and biographer
1906 H.E. Whitelaw Reid, U.S. Ambassador
1974 Sir Ralph Richardson, actor
2004 Angela Rippon, TV personality and reporter
2006 Lord (Brian) Rix, comedy actor, and campaigner for those with learning disabilities
1912 Field Marshal Lord Roberts
1905 Lord Rosebery was reportedly ‘dumb’ when asked to speak

S

1913 Sir Herbert Samuel, later 1st Viscount, politician and diplomat
1931 Sir Malcolm Sargent, conductor
2007 The Rt Hon. Baroness Scotland, PC QC, now Secretary General of the Commonwealth
1985 Sir Peter Scott, naturalist
1910 Captain Robert Falcon Scott (‘of the Antarctic) RN CVO
1909 Lieutenant Sir Ernest Shackleton RN CVO
1906, 1920 [George] Bernard Shaw
1987 Sir Donald Sinden CBE, actor
1913 Rt Hon. F. E. Smith, KC, later Lord Birkenhead
1970 C.P. Snow, novelist, later Lord Snow
1972 Sir Basil Spence OM, architect
1920 J.C. Squire, poet, editor of literary journals
1890, 1892 Friar Sir Henry Morton Stanley GCB, explorer, elected hon. Friar 1892
1986 Rt Hon David Steel KBE, co-founder of the SDLP, later Lord Steel of Aikwood
1960 Rt Rev. Mervyn Stockwood, Bishop of Southwark
1905 Bram Stoker, later elected Friar
2009 Lord Strathclyde, 2nd Baron, then Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords
2007 John Surtees, OBE motorcycle and Formula One racing driver

T

2003 The Rt Hon. Lord Tebbit CH
1910 Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, actor, theatre manager
1993 Friar Donald Trelford, Editor of The Observer
1904 Sir George Trevelyan Bt, historian
1994 Joanna Trollope, OBE novelist
1872, 1899, 1900 Friar Mark Twain (elected Hon. Member in 1874)

W

1920 Hugh Walpole, novelist, later knighted
1902, 1907, 1913 Friar H.G.Wells was Prior (first came as a guest in 1902)
1983 The 6th Duke of Westminster KG
1995 Friar John Whitney, CBE former Director General, Independent Broadcasting Authority
2006, 2015 Rt Hon. Ann Widdecombe MP, Conservative politician, later panto dame
1981 Rt Hon. Shirley Williams MP, co-founder of SDLP
1903 Thomas J. Wise, bibliophile and later notorious book forger
1906 Rt Hon. George Wyndham MP

Y

1900, 1904 William Butler Yeats