for Durham-related projects.
A masonic lodge, University of Durham Lodge no. 3030, was founded in 1904 for university alumni and meets at Freemasons' Hall in Covent Garden.
=== Notable people ===
In politics, 14 Durham alumni and former staff were elected to the UK parliament in the 2024 general election (eight Labour, two Conservative, two Liberal Democrats, one Green and one independent). Alumni who have held significant positions in the British government have included Edward Shortt, Home Secretary, and Mo Mowlam, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland at the time of the Good Friday Peace Agreement. Notable figures in law have included two Supreme Court justices, Anthony Hughes and Jill Black, and a Lord Chancellor, Robert Buckland. Alumni and staff in religion have included two archbishops of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey and Justin Welby, as well as Libby Lane, the first woman bishop in the Church of England. Durham graduates in the military have included two chiefs of the general staff (professional heads of the British Army), Richard Dannatt and Mark Carleton-Smith.
In science, Durham graduates include cosmologist John D. Barrow, winner of the Templeton Prize; particle physicist George Rochester, co-discoverer of the kaon; geophysicist and statistician Harold Jeffreys, winner of the Royal Society's Copley Medal; geologist Kingsley Charles Dunham, director of the British Geological Survey; and astrophysicist Rosemary Coogan, European Space Agency astronaut. Alumni in business have included Richard Adams, fair trade pioneer and founder of Traidcraft, and Tim Smit, co-founder of the Eden Project. Media figures have included Harold Evans, editor of The Sunday Times and The Times; Biddy Baxter, producer of Blue Peter; and television presenters George Alagiah, Gabby Logan and Jeremy Vine. Noted writers include Edward Bradley, author of The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green, and Hunter Davies, author of The Beatles: The Authorised Biography.
In sports, Durham has produced more professional athletes than any other …
