HOCUS Pocus! Science Oxford boffins served up some spooky chemistry with a Halloween theme.

A play about a magician helping an apprentice brush up on her spells was the perfect excuse for lots of puffs of smoke and bangs at yesterday’s event.

Maya Herbolzheimer – with Brian Macken – a projects officer at the London Place learning centre, said: “It is a bit of fun but it used science demonstrations to give it a bit of an education factor.”