# Richard Dimbleby Lecture

The Richard Dimbleby Lecture (also known as the Dimbleby Lecture) is an annual television lecture founded in memory of Richard Dimbleby (1913—1965), the BBC broadcaster.
It has been delivered by an influential business, scientific or political figure almost every year since 1972 (with gaps in 1981, 1991, 1993, 2008, 2020, 2022 and 2024).
In alternate years, in more recent years, the lecture has been introduced by his sons David Dimbleby and Jonathan Dimbleby, both broadcasters for the BBC, and delivered in front of an invited audience of guests, often with a link to the specialism of the speaker.
| Year | Title | Speaker | Speaker's position | Listing | Venue |
| 2025 | The Beautiful Game: Building Belief and Resilience in a Younger Generation | Sir Gareth Southgate | Former England football manager and player | BBC Programme page | Senate House, London |
| 2023 | 75th anniversary of the Empire Windrush arriving in this country | David Harewood | Actor | BBC Programme page | Battersea Arts Centre |
| 2021 | Vaccine Vs Virus: This Race - and the Next One | Dame Sarah Gilbert | Co-developer of Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine | BBC Programme page, Transcript | Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford |
| 2019 | The World Wide Web - A Mid-Course Correction | Sir Tim Berners-Lee | Inventor of the World Wide Web | BBC Programme page | Design Museum |
| 2018 | Don't Protect Me - Respect Me | Jeanette Winterson | Writer and broadcaster | BBC Programme page | House of Lords, Palace of Westminster |
| 2017 | Staying Safe in a Turbulent World | John O. Brennan | Director of the Central Intelligence Agency 2013 to 2017 | BBC Programme page | LSO St Luke's |
| 2016 | Is Shakespeare Chinese? | Gregory Doran | Artistic Director, Royal Shakespeare Company | BBC Programme page | University of Warwick at The Shard |
| 2015 | Dot Everyone - Power, the Internet and You | Martha Lane Fox | Co-founder of Lastminute.com, digital entrepreneur and peer | Transcript | Science Museum, London |
| 2014 | A New Multilateralism for the 21st Century | Christine Lagarde | Managing director of International Monetary Fund | IMF BBC Programme page | Guildhall, London |
| 2013 | The Impatient Optimist | Bill Gates | Entrepreneur and Philanthropist | BBC Programme page | Royal Institution |
| 2012 | The Wonder of Science | Sir Paul Nurse | Geneticist and Nobel laureate | Royal Society transcript | Royal College of Physicians |
| 2011 | Set Our Children Free | Michael Morpurgo | Children's author and campaigner | BBC Programme page | King's College London |
| 2010 | Shaking Hands With Death | Sir Terry Pratchett | Author & Person with Alzheimer's. Read by Tony Robinson on speaker's behalf owing to his condition | Guardian, Transcript | Royal College of Physicians |
| 2009 | Facing The Future | Prince Charles | Prince of Wales | Transcript | St James's Palace |
| 2007 | A DNA-Driven World | Craig Venter | Gene pioneer | BBC Press Release | |
| 2006 | Defence of the Realm in the 21st Century | General Sir Mike Jackson | Former Chief of the General Staff | , (video) | The London Scottish Regiment Headquarters |
| 2005 | What Kind of Police Service Do We Want? | Sir Ian Blair | Metropolitan Police Commissioner | Transcript, Transcript | |
| 2004 | Engineering the Difference | James Dyson | Vacuum cleaner tycoon | Transcript | Wilton's Music Hall |
| 2003 | The path towards a new world | Dominique de Villepin | French foreign minister | Transcript, Transcript, Transcript | |
| 2002 | Nations, Markets and Morals | Dr Rowan Williams | Archbishop of Canterbury | Radio Times listingTranscript | Westminster School |
| 2001 | The Struggle For The Soul of The 21st Century | Bill Clinton | Former President of the United States of America | Transcript | |
| 2000 | Who's Afraid of Modern Art | Sir Nicholas Serota | Director of the Tate Gallery | Radio Times listing | |
| 1999 | The Future Could be Too Much Fun | Susan Greenfield | Professor of pharmacology | Transcript | |
| 1998 | Principles of Peace | George J. Mitchell | Former U.S. Senator and chair of the talks leading to the Belfast Agreement | Radio Times listing | |
| 1997 | Public Life, Public Confidence | Lord Nolan | Former law lord | Radio Times listing | |
| 1996 | Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder | Richard Dawkins | Professor of biology | Radio Times listing | |
| 1994 | Security and Democracy - Is There a Conflict? | Stella Rimington | Director-General of MI5 | Radio Times listing | Banqueting House, Whitehall |
| 1992 | The Judiciary in the Nineties | Lord Taylor of Gosforth | Lord Chief Justice | Radio Times listing | |
| 1990 | Europe in the Nineties | Helmut Schmidt | Former Chancellor of Germany | Radio Times listing | Banqueting House, Whitehall |
| 1989 | Living Off the Land | Prince Philip | Duke of Edinburgh | Radio Times listing | The Brewery, Chiswell Street |
| 1988 | Knowledge Itself is Power | Sir George Porter | Professor of chemistry | Radio Times listing | Royal Institution |
| 1987 | British Television: Who are the Masters Now? | Sir Denis Forman | Deputy Chairman of the Granada Group | Radio Times listing | Royal Society of the Arts |
| 1986 | Does Industry Matter? | Sir John Harvey-Jones | Former chairman of ICI | Radio Times listing | Royal Society of the Arts |
| 1985 | Teacher, Teach Thyself | Baroness Warnock | Professor of philosophy | Radio Times listing | Royal Society of the Arts |
| 1984 | The Other Britain | Rt Rev. David Sheppard | Bishop of Liverpool and former cricketer | Radio Times listing | Royal Society of the Arts |
| 1983 | Missing Our Connections | Sir Peter Parker | Former chairman of British Railways Board | Radio Times listing | Royal Society of the Arts |
| 1982 | Irish Identities | Garret FitzGerald | Former (and later, again) Taoiseach of Ireland | Radio Times listing | Royal Society of the Arts |
| 1980 | Misuse of Power | Lord Denning | Master of the Rolls | Radio Times listing | Royal Society of the Arts |
| 1979 | Home Thoughts from Abroad | Roy Jenkins | President of the European Commission | Transcript, Radio Times listing | Royal Society of the Arts |
| 1978 | Risk | Lord Rothschild | Zoologist and security adviser | Radio Times listing | Royal Society of the Arts |
| 1977 | The Human Face of Labour | Jack Jones | Former general secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union | Radio Times listing | Clothworkers' Hall |
| 1976 | Elective Dictatorship | Lord Hailsham | Former (and later, again) Lord Chancellor | Radio Times listing | BBC Television Centre |
| 1975 | The British Experience in Television | Sir Huw Wheldon | Broadcaster | Radio Times listing | BBC Television Centre |
| 1974 | Housing - Who is to Blame? | Lord Goodman | Former chairman of the Arts Council | Radio Times listing | BBC Television Centre |
| 1973 | Minority Verdict | Sir Robert Mark | Metropolitan Police Commissioner | Radio Times listing | BBC Television Centre |
| 1972 | What are Universities for, Anyway? | Lord Annan | Provost of University College, London | Radio Times listing | BBC Television Centre |