Nigella Lawson, Bono and Owen Jones are among the star-studded lineup set to visit Trinity’s biggest societies this year.
Another year, another list of exciting guests will be gracing campus with their presence. This year, the University Philosophical Society (the Phil) will see some of the biggest names in baking, tennis, music and cinema enter the chamber to receive the much-coveted Gold Medal and Honorary Patronage.
First up at the Phil is Patrick Topping on September 21st, in an event organised with Dublin University DJs. Topping is an electronic music producer and DJ. Since his debut in 2013, he has secured seven different Beatport #1’s and was voted one of Resident Advisor’s Top DJ’s of 2016. Musical star Kristin Chenoweth will follow on October 23rd. The American actress and singer, who was the first to ever play the role of Glinda in Wicked, has also appeared in musical theatre, film and television.
On October 26th, Jimmy Wales will grace the Graduates Memorial Building chamber. A prominent internet entrepreneur, Wales is best known for co-founding the massively successful site Wikipedia. In the run-up to Christmas, on November 2nd, highly acclaimed food writer, journalist and broadcaster, Nigella Lawson, will speak to the Phil. She is best known for her popular cookbooks Nigella Christmas and How to be a Domestic Goddess. The final figure to have confirmed a date is American entrepreneur and philanthropist Sean Parker who shall be receiving the Gold Medal in January 2018.
Some of the Big Names
Other names to look out for throughout the year include Great British Bake Off sweetheart Mary Berry, who was due to attend last year. Tennis star John McEnroe, Russian feminist, protest punk rock group Pussy Riot and the political operative and analyst David Axelrod will all also attend. The English actor Sean Bean as well as French actress and model Audrey Tautou are due to make an appearance during the year.
Also confirmed but without set dates for their talks are US comedian, actress, author and TV personality Rosie O’Donnell, fine-art German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans, former lead guitarist of Queen – now an astrophysicist – Dr Brian May, as well as Swazi-born English actor, screenwriter and director Richard E. Grant. Award-winning novelist Zadie Smith and French economist Esther Duflo, the co-founder and Director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, and a Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are set to join the lineup later in the year.
Law Soc’s lineup celebrates some of the great names in law, politics and some fine figures from further afield. Their guests with confirmed dates include Joe Brolly, the Irish barrister, gaelic football analyst and former player for Dungiven, who will speak with Law Soc on September 21st. Ivan Yates, Irish businessman, broadcaster and former politician, shall make his presence known on October 20th. And then on November 13th, the highly established American lawyer Peter Neufeld will walk through front gates. Further figures whom have yet to confirm dates but who have been invited by Law Soc are Bono, the beloved Irish singer-songwriter, musician, venture capitalist, businessman, alongside Natalie Dormer, the acclaimed English actress who has appeared in the likes of The Hunger Games and Game of Thrones.
As published in the Historacle, the College Historical Society (the Hist) will see the likes of former Taoiseach Enda Kenny; Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the UK, Baroness Hale of Richmond; and former Governor of Florida Jeb Bush, speak to the Hist this year. The list of notable figures continues with author of Wild Swans Jung Chang and civil rights activist and former advisor to President Obama Al Sharpton, as well as the current European Union Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager. The former Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary Ken Clarke, the former Governor of Maryland Martin O’Malley, as well as the Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney are all set to appear in the GMB for the Hist. Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society and star of Periodic Table of Videos, Sir Martyn Poliakoff, is also due to appear, as well as Irish folk singer and songwriter Moya Brennan.
