Filming of the multi-million-pound screen version of Harry Potter was due to start in an Oxford college today.

Movie company Warner Brothers has struck a deal with Oxford University to film scenes at Christ Church and the Bodleian Library.

Brasenose College bursar Dr Robert Gasser helped to strike the deal which puts Oxford in the limelight in the first in the series of hugely successful novels by children's author JK Rowling.

He said: "We will of course make sure filming does not disrupt term-time. Crews must always work around normal student activities."

Scenes filmed at Didcot Railway Centre, showing the famous fictional wizard Harry Potter being waved off to school on the Hogwarts Express, could also be used in the movie.

Oxford schoolgirl Emma Watson is to play the part of one of Harry's best friends, Hermione Granger.

Actress Dame Maggie Smith, who lived in Cowley and performed with Oxford Playhouse School of Theatre in the 1950s, will play the part of Minerva McGonagall, second in command at Hogwarts. Other stars include Robbie Coltrane as the giant Hagrid and Alan Rickman as slippery schoolmaster Professor Snape.