Belper School

On Wednesday 17 September 2004, the school made national news after a chemical spill occurred within the Science department. Iodine crystals were dropped by a teacher when they collided with a student in a corridor. As a result, two pupils had minor burns and 36 were taken to hospital for smoke inhalation.[4]

• Sir Alan Bates CBE, actor[5] in 1960s kitchen sink realism films
• Reginald Coates, Professor of Civil Engineering from 1983 to 2004 at the University of Nottingham and President from 1978–9 of the Institution of Civil Engineers
• Timothy Dalton, actor[5] notably in The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill
• Prof David Leslie Hawksworth CBE, mycologist and lichenologist, Research Professor since 2001 at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Complutense University of Madrid), President from 1986–7 of the British Lichen Society, from 1990–1 of the British Mycological Society and from 1994–7 of the International Union of Biological Sciences, and Editor from 200–8 of Mycological Research
• Mike Ingham, Chief Football Correspondent since 2004 at BBC Radio 5 Live
• David Kinnersley[6], economist (educated as a wartime evacuee), and first Chief executive from 1973–6 of the North West Water Authority
• Prof Larry Rotherham CBE, metallurgist, President from 1964–5 of the Institution of Metallurgists, and from 1965–6 of the Institute of Metals, expert on creep-resistant materials heading the team that discovered how metal fatigue brought down early de Havilland Comet airliners, and Vice-Chancellor from 1969 to 1976 of the University of Bath
• Prof William Watson CBE, Professor of Chinese Art and Archaeology from 1966 to 1983 at the School of Oriental and African Studies, and President from 1981–4 of the Oriental Ceramic Society