WHAT sums up Oxfordshire for you? That is the question people across the county are being asked after the county’s museum staff selected a list of 10 iconic objects for a new project.

The 10 were chosen by representatives of all the county’s museums because they tell part of Oxfordshire’s history and reveal information about its place in the world.

The items range from famous Witney blankets to a sculpture of the structure of penicillin and include a nurse’s uniform from the Second World War.

Dr John Hobart, from Oxford University Museums, said: “These 10 objects are only a starting point for discussion and we look forward to seeing what else is put forward from private and other collections to add to the story of Oxfordshire and its relationship with the world.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for the museums and the people of Oxfordshire to focus on local objects and show how our county has contributed in many and diverse ways to the wider world.”

All 10 objects are currently on display at various museums across the county.

They were selected for the BBC’s A History of the World project, and it is hoped that people will upload photographs of their own objects to the BBC website with an explanation of their stories.

By February, it is hoped each BBC Local website will have an additional 10 things nominated by local people, which will sit alongside the items selected by the museums.

County council museums service manager Carol Anderson said the prospect of choosing just 10 things to tell the county’s story initially seemed impossible.

She said: “It is a good way in for people and it is already provoking debate and discussion, which is what we want.

“Oxfordshire is a funny place because it is involved in so much that has happened in the UK and the rest of the world, which makes it particularly interesting to pick out something specific to Oxfordshire.”

She said she hoped that as well as people suggesting their own objects, the project would identify stories about items in the museums’ collections which had, until now, remained hidden.

She said: “I think the most exciting part will be hearing what the public have to say and how they respond to it.”

The 10 objects are: 1. Finishing post and bell from Sir Roger Bannister’s sub-four-minute mile, which is on public display at Iffley Road Sports Centre. Sir Roger , a medical student at Oxford University, was the first man to run a mile in under four minutes.

2. The Domitianus Coin from the Chalgrove Hoard, at the Ashmolean Museum, Beaumont Street. This coin is the only material evidence anywhere in the world that Roman emperor Domitianus existed and was found in Chalgrove thanks to a metal detector.

3. The Structure of Penicillin, at the Museum of the History of Science, Broad Street. It was worked out using X-ray crystallography. The leading contributor in this research was Oxford scientist Dorothy Hodgkin.

4. The Return of the Dove to the Ark by Sir John Everett Millais, at the Ashmolean Museum. This was the first Pre-Raphaelite painting seen by William Morris.

5. Whit-Horn, at the Pitt Rivers Museum, Parks Road. This recollects how certain Oxfordshire villages were allowed to kill a stag on Whit-Monday, and villagers were called using the whit-horn.

6. MK 5 dummy fuel rod, at Oxfordshire Museum, Woodstock. Founded at Harwell in 1946, the Atomic Energy Research Establishment became the powerhouse for developments in physical science and engineering technology. Europe’s first nuclear reactor was designed and built there.

7. Mascot Morris 10 car 1936 at Oxfordshire Museum. William Morris opened his factory in Cowley, Oxford in 1913 and the company’s first car, the two-seat Morris Oxford ‘Bullnose’ was introduced.

8. Later-20th century Witney blanket made by Charles Early at Oxfordshire Museum. From the mid-17th century, red and blue blankets made in Witney were traded with native Americans in Virginia and New England in return for the fur of beavers and other animals.

9. Woodstock steel small sword at Oxfordshire Museum. In the 18th century Woodstock was renowned throughout Europe for the quality of the cut steel products made there. This one dates from 1775 to 1780.

10. Nurse’s uniform Second World War at Oxfordshire Museum. Worn by Mary Boundy, an Oxfordshire nurse who was one of eight women nurses to land with the troops on D-Day. She also accompanied British troops, including members of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, as they entered Bergen Belsen concentration camp in April 1945.