Visiting Professor of Creative Media

The Visiting Professorship of Media was established in 1996, as part of a generous benefaction from Rupert Murdoch. It is an annual appointment and the Professor will give a series of lectures during the academic year (usually in January/February).

The current postholder is Stephen Fry.

Stephen Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter, film director and all-round national treasure. Fry has written and presented several documentary series, contributed columns and articles for newspapers and magazines, appears frequently on radio, reads for voice-overs and has written four novels and three volumes of autobiography, Moab Is My Washpot, The Fry Chronicles and his latest, More Fool Me.

Notable acting roles include his award-winning performance in Wilde, his iconic projects with Hugh Laurie such as A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Jeeves and Wooster and Blackadder, and his memorable turns in blockbuster projects V for Vendetta, the Sherlock Holmes films and The Hobbit series. Stephen’s recent European feature film TREASURE opposite Lena Dunham, directed by Julia Von Heinz had its world premiere at this year’s Berlinale.

As a proudly out gay man, the award-winning Out There, documenting the lives of lesbian, bisexual gay and transgender people around the world is part of his thirty-year advocacy of the rights of the LGBT community.

Stephen Fry gave a talk on 'Words Words Words — The Lure of Language' on 24 January 2025 at the Sheldonian Theatre, watch a recording of the talk below. The talk was funded by News UK.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/q62eoxOXHpo?si=JlMNyvFx5F0Ie-0i

Previous Professors have included:

David Baddiel, comedian, author, screenwriter, television presenter and Jewish activist.

In Conversation with Professor Robert Douglas-Fairhurst on the topic of 'Storytelling across different media' (31 January 2024)

Jeanette Winterson CBE

The Word Tardis (May 2023)

The Word-Zoo: Language in the time of Tabloids, TikTok, Conspiracy Cults, Brexit, and AI. Evolution? Conservation? Extinction? (October 2022)

Zing Tsjeng, Executive Editor of VICE UK, and author of the Forgotten Women series.

'Yellow Peril' in the UK (October 2021)

Everything is online now – how the internet blurred fact and fiction (May 2021)

Samir Shah, Chief Executive and Creative Director, Juniper TV, who delivered his 2019 lectures:

'Truth, Lies and Videotape - drawing the line between acceptable artifice and unacceptable deception'

'Mercury’s perihelion and The Donald'

Stig Abell, Editor, The Times Literary Supplement, who delivered his lectures on 'The End of Journalism?'.

Lecture transcripts are available here:

Visiting Professor of Creative Media lecture – The End of Journalism? (1)

Visiting Professor of Creative Media lecture – The End of Journalism? (2)

Dawn Airey, CEO of Getty Images, who delivered a lecture series on 'No Filter – Power and Pictures in a Post-Truth World'.

Matthew Engel, the journalist and sports writer, who gave a series of lectures entitled 'Please, mister, can we have our ball back? Sport, the media, and the people'.

Lecture transcripts are available here:

Lecture 1: Life and death? No, much more important than that

Lecture 2: It's the cat's whisker

Lecture 3: From Reith to wreath

Lecture 4: You are the earth and the sky

Stephen Garrett, the man who brought Spooks and Life on Mars to our screens, who gave the series:

Lecture 1: How to Grow a Creative Business According to the Laws of Chance

Lecture 2: Why the Only Rule is that there are No Rules

Lecture 3: No More Heroes

Lecture 4: Tomorrow Got Here Yesterday

Paul Gambaccini, who gave a series of lectures entitled 'Face the Strange'.

Anthony Lilley, Chief Executive, Magic Lantern Productions