The Graduates Memorial Building is home to both the Hist and the Phil
Eoin O’Liathain
Contributing Writer
College is a wonderful place. Not because you get to be a cog in the deadening cycle of lectures, library and academia for four years. No, it’s wonderful because you get to meet kick-ass celebrities, which you otherwise would never get anywhere near. This year a horde of famous people are coming to Trinity to be honoured with the opportunity of addressing Ireland’s best and brightest, or at least that’s what they were told by the society head who invited them. Rather, they’ll talk for a bit, receive a medal of some sort and you’ll be wowed in your seat because you’re sitting in front of your childhood hero. Seriously, you’d be crazy not to catch some of the cool names listed below. Make a note of your favourites, go to the event, ask a the guest a question, enjoy a popular facebook status about the experience, and then return to your dreary degree until the next hotshot celeb drops by.
The Phil
If it’s celebrity schmoozing you’re after then look no further than the Phil. With an incredible heritage of guests, this year promises even more amazingness:
Boris Becker – Tennis Legend
Conan O’Brien – American television host, really tall
Arianna Huffington – ever hear of the Huffington Post? That’s her.
Whoopi Goldberg – Sister Mary-Clarence
Hugh Laurie – Blackadder, Jeeves and Wooster, House
Bobby McFerrin – Wrote ‘Don’t Worry, Be happy’. Good man, Bobby.
Sean Bean – Actor in Game of Thrones
George R.R. Martin – Author of Game of Thrones
Richard Dawkins – Hates God
Patrick Stewart – Captain Picard
Gay Byrne – Irish Broadcasting legend
Paul Howard – Ross O’Carroll-Kelly
Howard Marks – (former?) drug smuggler
Director David Petraeus – Director of the CIA!
Sir Tim Berners-Lee – Only invented the internet…
Francis Fukuyama – Political scientist, political economist, and author
Dan Ariely – Psychologist. Check out his Ted Talk
Art Benjamin – Mathemagician….yeah.
Daniel Gilbert – Professor of Psychology at Harvard University
Bill Keller – Former editor of the New York Times
Mark Shuttleworth – Entrepreneur. Philanthropist. Space tourist
Edmund Phelps – Nobel Prize Economics 2006
Martin Wolf – Very important Financial Times Journalist, seriously
John Mearsheimer – Professor of Political Science, IR legend.
The Hist
Though you many not be overly familiar with many of these names there is some serious intellectual heavyweight going on with the Hist’s guests this year. Count them up: 7 Nobel Laureates (3 economics, 1 peace, 2 medicine, 1 literature). Also Gimli the dwarf!
William Perry – Secretary of Defence under Bill Clinton
Thomas Sargent – Nobel Prize in economics 2011
Chris Pissarides – Nobel Prize in economics 2010
James Mirrlees – Nobel Prize in economics 1996
Martti Ahtisaari – Nobel Peace Prize 2008, former Finnish PM.
Harald zur Hausen – Nobel Prize in Medicine 2008
John Sulston – Nobel Prize in Medicine 2002
Orhan Pamuk – Novel Prize in Literature 2006
Eddie Izzard – Comedian, ledgebag
Martha Minow – Dean of Harvard Law School
Iain Banks – Award-waiting writer
Joe Randazzo – Editor of the Onion
John Rhys-Davies – Actor/ Gimili the Dwarf
Richard Saul Wurman – Founder of TED Talks
George Takei – Star Trek Legend
Romeo Dallaire – Led UN peacekeeping force for Rwanda 1993-94
F Murray Abraham – Oscar winning actor, see All the President’s Men and Scarface
Theological Society
Norman Finkelstein – American political scientist, activist, author.
Law Soc
Cherie Blair – Wife of has-been, really cool British Barrister.
Lord Sumption – UK Supreme Court Judge and author
Paul Hill – Guilford four prisoner, married to Courtney Kennedy
Mary Robinson – Former President of Ireland, current president of our hearts.
Jeh Johnson – General Counsel of Defence for Obama (i.e. fights Al-Qaeda)
Justice Makasey – Former attorney general of the United States
Sunni Jacbos and Peter Pringle – Former inmates who faced deathrow for 10 years
Susan Denham – Supreme Court Chief Justice, most powerful woman in Ireland?
DU Players
Brendan Gleeson – Mad Eye Moody
Pierce Brosnan – 007 Once upon a time
So there you have it. A whole load of really cool people coming to your campus this year. Take note of who you like and instead of going off for that chicken fillet roll with all your stupid mates, go and listen to a Nobel prize winner/ prolific actor/incredible individual. Who knows maybe someday you’ll be famous enough to address your alma mater…probably not though.
