In this episode we’re joined by David Gedge - songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist in one of the University’s best loved bands, The Wedding Present.

In 1985, David Gedge (Mathematics 1981) formed the band The Wedding Present with his friends Shaun Charman (Economics & Sociology 1986), English student Keith Gregory and PGCE student Peter Solowka.

Now the only original member in the band, David has chosen to mark the 40th anniversary of the band with a special concert in LUU on Friday 9 May 2025: “I thought it would be a nice idea to play this concert as a ‘back to where it all started’ event.”

On 5 July 2024 Sir Keir Starmer (Law 1985, Hon LLD 2012) - one of the University's most prominent alumnus - became the Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Sir Keir is the first Leeds graduate to become UK Prime Minister, and one of only a few University-educated PMs to not study his bachelors at Oxford or Cambridge.

His journey to Downing Street started in 1982, when the working class boy from Surrey “rocked up” to the Parkinson steps with a Boomtown Rats record under one arm, and a Status Quo album under the other.

There and then he fell in love with the city, and the University, that he says, changed his life. He graduated with a first class degree in law in 1985, and went on to a distinguished career before becoming an MP in 2015.

And throughout his career his relationship with Leeds has remained strong. As director of public prosecutions he opened the School of Law’s Liberty Building in 2011. He was then awarded an honorary doctorate by the University in 2012.

And last year Sir Keir returned to his old stomping ground, where he sat down with Leeds Magazine to discuss the three years that formed him, and changed his life.

Here is that full interview, recorded in October last year.

You can read the full story published in Leeds Magazine here: https://spotlight.leeds.ac.uk/leeds-magazine-2024/big-interviews/keir-starmer/index.html

Northern Ballet’s Romeo & Juliet has survived fire, flood and the changing fashions of more than three decades. Ahead of the 2024 revival of this classic production, we discover the turbulent tale behind it.

Director of the University’s Cultural Institute Wieke Eringa hears from Daniel de Andrade and Pippa Moore MBE, who danced the title roles and are now passing their knowledge on to the next generation as members of Northern Ballet’s artistic staff.

Romeo & Juliet will return to the stage from 8 March, and you can visit the University of Leeds exhibition Preserving the Passion: Northern Ballet's Romeo & Juliet' in The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery until 23 March.

The Northern Ballet Archive, donated to the University of Leeds in 2021, tells the 50-year story of the company from its foundation to the present. Bringing together drawings, props, costumes and photographs, this exhibition documents the production, the evolution and sometimes the complete recreation of a cornerstone of the company’s repertoire.