A group of ten Upper 6 Physics students were lucky enough to witness Professor Stephen Hawking receive an Honorary Freedom of the City of London at Guildhall on 6^th March. The event recognised Professor Hawking’s many achievements in the fields of Physics and Cosmology as well as his campaigns for disability rights.

Once he had received the Honorary Freedom, Professor Hawking answered some pre-selected questions from the schools attending, and one of the Freemen’s questions was chosen. James Lawrence and Bethan Moncur asked whether the Professor would host another party for time-travellers and, if so, whether he would expect anyone to attend. As he doesn't believe in time travel, his answer was no.  Professor Hawking answered all questions well, and injected his trademark humour into his answer to our question.

In the following reception, students were able to view a page from Robert Hooke’s diary, which was labelled 1673/4 to reflect the change in the naming of dates. They also spoke to Professor Rowan-Robinson from Imperial College and asked him about his career in astrophysics.