Our People

Lord David Puttnam

Bynum Tudor Fellow

Film producer and educator

David Puttnam, CBE, HonFRSA, HonFRPS, MRIA  is a celebrated film producer. His credits include Chariots of Fire, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, Bugsy Malone, The Killing Fields, Local Hero, and The Mission, to name but a few.

For 10 years he was Chair of the National Film and Television School whose alumni included people such as Nick Park, and in 2017, he succeeded Lord Richard Attenborough as Life President. He founded Skillset, which trains young people to become members of the film and television industries. From 2002-2009 he was UK president of UNICEF and remains an ambassador. Lord Puttnam was the first chancellor of the University of Sunderland from 1997 until 13 July 2007. He was appointed an Honorary Doctor of Education during the School of Education and Lifelong Learning’s Academic Awards Ceremonies in his final week as Chancellor.

He sits on the Labour benches in the House of Lords, although he is not principally a politician.

In his 2009 Bynum Tudor lecture We’re the people we’ve been waiting for Lord Puttnam discussed how education and learning will develop over the next decade and beyond, given the pace of change driven by digital technologies. He reflected on the impact of the recession and climate change on how we equip learners for the future.