Sir Philip will be speaking about the inspiration behind the imagined worlds of his fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials and Northern Lights, which is based in Oxford, on Saturday, September 21 at 6pm at St Mary’s Church in the village. 

He will also be in discussion with Jeremy Spafford from the Old Fire Station, about their initiative assessing the role of storytelling within the community.

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The church will also welcome TV presenter and broadcaster Dame Prue Leith from the Bake-Off on Saturday, October 19 then Oxford Playhouse director Debbie Dance on Saturday, November 16.

Dame Prue lives near Chipping Norton in west Oxfordshire and has appeared at Chipping Norton Literary Festival in the past.

Both of these talks are at 6pm with the latter based on Ms Dance’s passion for the conservation and developments of threatened church buildings.

The Friends organisation will focus on raising funds for the historic building of St. Mary’s, where all the events will be taking place.

The church has previously been described as “Kidlington’s greatest treasure” by Best Churches author Simon Jenkins.

All information for these events and future ones can be found one the Friends of St Mary’s Facebook page and website.