Professor Stephen Hawking to appear at Glastonbury

Professor Stephen Hawking will appear at Glastonbury. Picture: PA

The world-famous scientist, whose life story was recently turned into an Oscar-winning film, will appear at the festival’s Kidz Field this year.

A message on the festival’s website said he would make “a special guest appearance”.

It is not yet known what subjects the renowned physicist and mathematician will be speaking about, but following his latest dalliance with pop culture he could touch on any number of musical topics. Prof Hawking was sampled on the recent Pink Floyd album and he covered Monty Python’s Galaxy Song for this year’s Record Store Day.

Other acts at the area, which is aimed at children aged 12 and under, include television magician Dynamo.

Veteran rockers The Who were named last week as the headline act for the final night.

Other big acts confirmed for Glastonbury this year include Pharrell Williams and Mark Ronson. The festival runs from 24-28 June at Worthy Farm, in Somerset.

Prof Hawking, who was played by Eddie Redmayne in The Theory Of Everything, is no stranger to the spotlight.

Prof Hawking, who was diagnosed with a rare form of motor neurone disease in 1964 and given just a few years to live, has appeared in an episode of Star Trek and voiced a cartoon version of himself in The Simpsons.

Now aged 73 and despite his illness leaving him almost completely paralysed, he is celebrated as one of the most brilliant scientists of the modern age.

Academic success was followed by wider fame when his book A Brief History Of Time became an unlikely bestseller.

It expounded his theory of a model of the universe which had no boundaries in space or time.

Upheaval in his life, as well as his scientific achievements, have cemented Prof Hawking’s place in the public eye.