The following is a list of notable former pupils, known as Old Paulines, of St Paul's School (London). The abbreviation OP is sometimes used.[citation needed]
20th century
- Hugh Schonfield (1901–1988); biblical scholar, critic of St Paul
- Desmond Nethersole-Thompson (1908–1989); renowned British ornithologist, naturalist and author
- Magnus Pyke (1908–1992); author, scientist
- Isaiah Berlin (1909–1997); political philosopher and historian of ideas
- Arthur Barmby (1909–1976); cricketer
- Max Beloff (1913–1999); historian
- George Ignatieff (1913–1989); Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations
- Frederick Valentine Atkinson (1916–2002); mathematician.
- Eric Newby (1919–2006); writer
- John Russell (1919–2008); chief art critic, NY Times
- Leonard Berney (1920–2016); Bergen-Belsen concentration camp liberator
- John Chadwick (1920–1998); linguist, assisted Michael Ventris in the 1953 decipherment of Linear B.
- Norman Mischler (1920–2009); cricketer
- Dennis Brain (1921–1957); horn player
- Lister Sinclair (1921–2006); writer, actor, playwright and presenter with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
- Anthony Hinds (1922–2013); film producer and scriptwriter, known for Hammer Films
- Ian Allan (1922–2015); book publisher and railwayman
- Sir Ninian Stephen (1923–2017); Governor-General of Australia, Justice of the High Court of Australia
- Donald Nicol (1923–2003); byzantinist
- Nicholas Parsons (1923–2020); actor and television presenter
- Peter Hilton (1923–2010); mathematician
- Clement Freud (1924–2009); writer, broadcaster and politician
- James Moorhouse (1924–2014); politician
- Pete Murray (DJ) (born 1925); broadcaster and disc jockey
- Klaus Roth (1925–2015); mathematician, Fields medallist
- Patrick David Wall (1925–2001); neuroscientist
- John Thorn (1925–2023); headmaster of Repton and Winchester, chairman of the Headmasters' Conference for 1981
- Anthony Shaffer (1926–2001); author, playwright
- Richard Wilson (1926–2018); physicist
- Peter Shaffer (1926–2016); author, playwright
- Alexis Korner (1928–1984); blues musician
- Ioan James (born 1928); mathematician
- Greville Janner (1928–2015), politician (Labour)
- John Dunwoody (1929–2006); politician (Labour)
- Stanley Sadie (1930–2005); musicologist, editor of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
- Chris Barber (1930–2021); trombonist, jazz band leader
- Antony Jay (1930–2016); writer of Yes Minister, broadcaster
- Graeme MacDonald (1930–1997); television producer and executive[3]
- Brian Widlake (1931–2017); presenter of The World at One and PM (BBC Radio 4) and The Money Programme (BBC Two)
- Oliver Sacks (1933–2015); neurologist, author
- Julian Bream (1933–2020); classical guitarist
- Kenneth Baker (born 1934); politician (Conservative)
- Jonathan Miller (1934–2019); theatre and opera director
- Basil Moss (1935–2020); television and radio actor
- Bob Jeffery (1935–2016), Dean Emeritus of Worcester
- Richard Gombrich (born 1937), professor of Sanskrit
- Benjamin Zander (born 1939); conductor
- Robert Winston (born 1940); biologist and television presenter
- Nicolas Belfrage (1940–2022), Master of Wine[4]
- Neil Trevor Kaplan, (born 1942) High Court judge, Hong Kong
- Chris Green (born 1943); railway manager
- John Gilbert (born 1943), television writer, director and producer
- Rooney Massara (born 1943); Olympian
- Tim Razzall (born 1943), politician (Liberal Democrat) and solicitor
- John Simpson (born 1944); journalist
- Serge Lourie (born 1946); local politician and Leader of London Borough of Richmond upon Thames (Liberal Democrat)
- Paul Cartledge (born 1947); Levantis Professor of Greek Culture, Cambridge University
- Duncan Fallowell (born 1948); author
- David Abulafia (born 1949); historian
- Jon Blair (born 1950); television & film writer, director and producer
- Tim Hunkin (born 1950); inventor [5]
- Lloyd Dorfman (born 1951); billionaire, philanthropist
- Terence Etherton (born 1951); Master of the Rolls
- Tim Fywell (born 1951), television and film director
- Philip Hardie (born 1951), professor and specialist in Latin literature, Cambridge University
- Duncan Haldane (born 1951), 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics laureate
- Richard Davenport-Hines (born 1953); historian, writer
- Roly Bain (1954–2016), clown-priest
- David Bean (born 1954), judge
- Nicholas Kroll (born 1954) CB civil servant[6]
- Rob Manzoli (born 1954); musician, lead guitarist Right Said Fred
- Matilda Simon, 3rd Baroness Simon of Wythenshawe (born 1955), transgender peeress
- Glen Oglaza (born 1955); political correspondent of Sky News
- Tom Hayhoe (born 1956); director of healthcare organisations, offshore racing sailor
- David Shilling (born 1956); hat designer
- Luke Hughes (born 1957); furniture designer
- Simon Fraser (born 1958) ; Diplomat, Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs July 2010 – July 2015
- Francis Wright (born 1958); actor and puppeteer
- Maxwell Caulfield (born 1959); actor
- Iain Gale (born 1959); journalist and author
- Euclid Tsakalotos (born 1960); Greek economist and politician, former Greek Minister of Finance
- Simon Milton (1961–2011); politician (Conservative)
- David Levin (born 1962); businessman, CEO of McGraw-Hill Education
- Ian Livingstone (born 1962); chairman and co-owner, London & Regional Properties[7]
- Ben Watt (born 1962); musician
- Julian Hodgson (born 1963); grandmaster and former British chess champion
- Imre Leader (born 1963); mathematician, Othello player
- Peter Morgan (born 1963); screenwriter.
- James Reed (born 1963); chairman, Reed Group
- William Goodchild (born 1964); composer and orchestrator
- James Kennard (born 1964); rabbi and educationalist
- Patrick Marber (born 1964); playwright
- Jonathan Foreman (born 1965); journalist
- Stephen B. Streater (born 1965); entrepreneur, founder of Eidos
- Stephen Greenhalgh (born 1967); Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime in London since June 2012
- Robert Asch (born 1968); journalist and author; co-editor of St Austin Review
- Ed Vaizey (born 1968); M.P. (Conservative) May 2005 – November 2019
- Neil Jones; Director of Studies in Law at Magdalene College, Cambridge
- Hal Cruttenden (born 1969); actor and comedian
- Dominic Frisby (born 1969); author, actor and comedian
- James Harding (born 1969); editor of The Times newspaper (Dec 2007–2012)
- Nick Quested (born 1969); filmmaker
- Alan Cox (born 1970); actor
- Jonny Dymond (born 1970); BBC correspondent and radio presenter
- James Hyman (born 1970); presenter
- James Max (born 1970); broadcaster, journalist
- Alex Chesterman (born 1970); entrepreneur
- George Osborne (born 1971); M.P. (Conservative) June 2001, Chancellor of the Exchequer May 2010 – July 2016
- Sam Houser (born 1971); president of Rockstar Games
- Patrick Neate (born 1971); novelist
- Sam Bain (born 1971); screenwriter; co-creator of Peep Show
- Sacha Tarter (born 1972); actor and screenwriter
- Theo Hobson (born 1972); theorist
- Jamie Bamber (born 1973); actor
- Tom Tugendhat (born 1973); M.P. (Conservative) May 2015 – present
- Dan Houser (born 1974); vice-president of Rockstar Games
- Simon Dennis (born 1976); rower and Olympic gold medalist
- Ben Jones (born 1976); evangelist
- Rory Kinnear (born 1978); actor
- Dan Snow (born 1978); journalist & television presenter
- Robin Walker (born 1978); M.P. (Conservative) May 2010 – present
- Alex Edmans (born 1980); economist
- Blake Ritson (born 1980); actor
- Tim Kash (born 1982); television presenter
- Robin Ticciati (born 1983); conductor
- Henry Lloyd-Hughes, (born 1985) actor
- Charlie Fink (born 1986); musician and member of folk band Noah and the Whale
- Winston Marshall (born 1988); musician and member of folk band Mumford & Sons
- Mark-Francis Vandelli (born 1989); television personality known for his role in Made in Chelsea
- Will Attenborough (born 1991); actor
- Sam Cato (born 1992); cricketer
- Tom Powe (born 1998); cricketer
- Hugo Lowell (born 1999); congressional reporter for Guardian US in Washington DC
Three Old Paulines have been awarded the Victoria Cross.