Oxford has been home to numerous writers whose magical worlds have captivated generations of readers and featured in epic films and television series.

Oxford’s fantasy worlds include one entered through a wardrobe door, one in which two children from parallel universes meet and part, and one in which ‘Halflings’ embark on a quest to destroy the One Ring that will subjugate their world to the forces of evil.

You’ll discover how an Oxford academic wrote ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ and how his friend created the world of Middle-earth. Some decades later another Oxford alumnus imagined an alternative Oxford in which a young girl called Lyra begins to discover her special identity.

You will see (from the outside) Exeter College, where both Tolkien and Pullman were undergraduates, Merton, where Tolkien held a professorship and penned the last two books of ‘Lord of the Rings’ and Magdalen, C. S. Lewis’s college. Exeter also features as Jordan College in ‘His Dark Materials’ and you’ll see how Pullman used this and other places in ‘our’ Oxford in Lyra’s story.

You will discover places where these men studied, taught and lectured. And, of course, no tour of the Inklings’ Oxford would be complete without passing the Eagle and Child or ‘Bird and Baby’ pub (sadly not open at present) in which Lewis, Tolkien and their friends read so much of their writings to each other.