Robert Hardy to visit school

Harry Potter and All Creatures Great and Small star Robert Hardy is to visit Oswestry School next month.

Mr Hardy CBE will be visiting the school as the guest of honour for Speech Day on July 4, which is held to celebrate the achievements of pupils.

It is a return visit for the actor and historian who attended the school in 2007 for its 600th anniversary celebrations.

He is best known as an acclaimed actor, but he is also a renowned historian, with a special interest in medieval history – in particular the use of the longbow.

Paul Stockdale, school headteacher, said he attended the school to give a lecture entitled The Great Longbow as part of the anniversary celebrations.

Many will remember the actor as the loveable Siegfried Farnon in All Creatures Great and Small. The television series began in the late 1970s based on the James Herriot novel, It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet.

More recently he portrayed Cornelius Fudge in the Harry Potter films.