PROFESSOR Stephen Hawking thrilled fans with a public talk in Oxford on Friday night.

The world-famous theoretical physicist appeared at the Oxford Mathematics Institute in Woodstock Road to give the inaugural lecture named in honour of his long-time collaborator Roger Penrose.

The sold out talk was also streamed online.

Prof Hawking’s talk focused on quantum black holes. He opened by saying 'they often say the truth is stranger than fiction, and no where is that more true than with quantum black holes.'

The world-renowned physicist then spoke for an hour about the history of black holes and the theories surrounding them.

Prof Hawking, 75, who works in the mathematics department at Cambridge University, originally intended to give the lecture in January but it was postponed.

Last week, his 1966 doctoral thesis was released online for the first time.

The thesis, which he wrote aged 24, discusses the expanding properties of the universe.

He said by releasing his thesis he hopes to 'inspire people around the world to look up at the stars and not down at their feet; to wonder about our place in the universe and to try and make sense of the cosmos'.

In recent years he has become somewhat of a celebrity.