Benazir Bhutto, Boris Johnson, William Gladstone … Lauren Pringle. What do these four have in common?
The answer is that they have all been or, in Lauren’s case will be president of the Oxford Union, one of the world’s oldest and most distinguished debating societies.
At midnight on June 25, the former Dundee High School pupil became president-elect, a sabbatical position she’ll hold throughout 2012, and that will bring her into contact with world leaders and celebrities from the realms of film, television and sport.
Born and brought up in Longforgan, Lauren (19) went to Dundee High School, leaving in 2009.
“The school’s debate club used to meet at lunchtimes,” she explains. “When I was in first year, myself and a friend decided to go along.”
She became hooked on the intellectual challenge, and took part in The Courier Schools Debating Competition no fewer than three times.
“That was the maximum number I was allowed to take part in,” she says. “In my second year I got to the final of the competition and in third year the semi-final. The more I got into it, the more I enjoyed it. Our school’s debating teacher Irene McGrath was very good she made us enter lots of competitions because she said that’s the best way to improve.”
Lauren thinks debating gives young people the skills they’ll need to take a firm grip on the career ladder.
“You’ve got to work as a team. You’ve also got to think quickly sometimes you only get the topic 15 minutes before the debate starts. It teaches you about powers of persuasion and communication.”
It also helps young people learn to cope with the pressures of public speaking.
“The largest number of people I’ve debated in front of was 300, at the World Schools Debating Championships. That was quite daunting!”
Given her passion, it’s hardly surprising that Lauren applied to the university with probably the most famous debating society in the world. She’s just completed her second year at Oxford, where she’s studying law at Wadham College, and joined the Oxford Union as soon as she arrived at the university.
Founded in 1823, the Oxford Union Society (generally shortened to the Oxford Union) is open to all members of Oxford University. It was created on a platform of free speech at a time when religion and politics were off-limits within the university, and was described by Harold Macmillan as “the last bastion of free speech in the western world”.
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Twelve British Prime Ministers got their first taste of the cut and thrust of debate in its chambers, five of whom were also officers of the union the first was William Gladstone and the most recent, Tony Blair.
The union has a formidable reputation for attracting powerful and famous guest speakers. Former guests have included the Dalai Lama, Winston Churchill, Mother Teresa, former US Presidents Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, US diplomat Henry Kissinger, physicist Stephen Hawking, biologist Richard Dawkins and Albert Einstein.
Plenty of figures from the world of entertainment have graced the Union’s halls including Clint Eastwood, Michael Jackson, Jon Bon Jovi, magician David Blaine, Peter O’Toole, Charlton Heston, Judi Dench even Kermit the Frog.
Lauren started off on the secretaries committee, which looks after logistics, then the governing standing committee before being elected librarian the Oxford Union’s term for its vice-president.
“The librarian normally looks after the celebrity guests while the president takes care of the politicians and other statesmen,” she says.
The last few months have seen Lauren entertain Michael Parkinson, Sex and the City’s Kim Cattrall, Slipknot singer Corey Taylor and historian Niall Ferguson.
“I actually had to interview Michael Parkinson for half an hour,” Lauren laughs.
So what was it like interviewing the famous interviewer?
“Well, my first question was ‘What tips can you give me on interviewing?’ I thought that was quite a clever question. But then he told me interviewing is all about structure, and I looked down at my list of 24 questions, which were in completely random order, and cringed.
“But he was lovely. He told me how his father didn’t want him to go into journalism but instead become a cricket player, and how he got into interviewing. And he told me about his favourite interviewee Muhammad Ali.”
Lauren shows a similar lack of hesitation to Parkinson when asked who she would most like to attract as an Oxford Union guest speaker.
“Barack Obama is No.1 on my wish list. If the President of the United States is too busy, I’d love to get someone like Tony Blair or David Cameron. Prime Ministers used to speak in front of the Oxford Union quite often but recently it’s been more difficult to get them. I’m not sure if these days they’re a bit nervous of being debated by the students.”
Although Lauren became president-elect on Saturday, she won’t officially take up her duties as president until next March, at which point she’ll have a potentially unpleasant initiation ceremony.
“The handover involves the outgoing president giving the president a jug with the keys to the Oxford Union in the bottom. It’s up to the president what drink goes in the jug. It could be anything from whipped cream to vodka orange to something much, much worse.
“Fortunately, I get on very well with the president so I’m sure he’ll be kind to me.”
Oxford Union plaque photo by Flickr user jaycross.