'I didn't think I could be astronomer from Oldham'

Professor Brian Cox has been back to his hometown Oldham to inspire the next generation of scientists.

The University of Manchester alumnus, who also had a successful music career in the 1980s and 1990s with the bands Dare and D:Ream, visited St Matthew's Primary School where he was once a pupil to give the children a virtual tour of the galaxy.

"When I was there in the 1970s, I thought there was no way you could be an Astronomer from Oldham," Prof Cox said.

"But of course I managed to do that. So part of it is saying to these children, whatever you want to be, these are the routes you can take."

Prof Cox, who co-hosts The Infinite Monkey Cage on BBC Radio 4 and presented the Wonders Of series on TV, also took part in a question and answer session with students from 17 schools and colleges at Oldham Sixth Form College.

"He spoke about so many amazing things in such detail, It was really fascinating to hear about so many scientific concepts," one audience member said.

Another student said they definitely thought they now wanted to get into science because "it sounded a lot more interesting when he spoke about it", adding: "He made me feel like there's more to science."

Another audience member said Prof Cox had been "inspiring".

The visit was part of the Great Horizons events, an initiative to ignite ambition in science, technology, engineering and maths across Oldham.

Prof Cox told the crowd: "You can be what you want to be and there are lots of jobs available in the economy of the future."

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