INSPECTOR Morse author Colin Dexter celebrated his 80th birthday with a very special bus ride to Woodstock.
Oxford’s best known crime writer also visited the city’s Randolph Hotel, which featured heavily in the Morse books and television programmes.
After enjoying a birthday cake with his wife Dorothy, family and friends, a bus arrived to carry them to Woodstock – marking the 35th anniversary of the first Inspector Morse book Last Bus To Woodstock.
Mr Dexter said: “As a family, we do not usually make too much of a fuss about birthdays.
“But it was a very nice way to mark it and the anniversary of the first book.”
Later, in Woodstock, he spoke at Blenheim Palace at a sold-out event on the last day of the Independent Woodstock Literary Festival. He said that with the total number of bodies reaching 91 in 33 Morse episodes, he decided that he had already murdered enough men, women and children on the streets of Oxford.
Mr Dexter is pictured boarding the bus outside the Randolph.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here