Roy Chisholm, of Moat Sole, Sandwich, has written his first novel – at the age of 87.

Mr Chisholm, who moved to Sandwich three years ago, previously lived in Canterbury where he was a professor of mathematics at the University of Kent.

The novel, Changing Stations, was launched at a special evening at Rutherford College in Canterbury on Friday. The evening was hosted by the Master of Rutherford College, Dr Peter Klappa, and organised by Roy’s son, the political cartoonist and children’s book illustrator, Dave Chisholm.

The novelist’s former colleagues and students at the university attended the event along with Bagpuss creator Peter Firmin.

Changing Stations, set in the 1980s, deals with academic, personal and romantic relationships between members of staff in the University of Stedborough. It focuses on the development by a young physicist of a Theory of Human Consciousness and a financially attractive offer from an American Creationist Church.

"When I was not reading Shelley’s poetry or Partington’s chemistry, I gazed at the names on the underground map" - Roy Chisholm

The offer causes serious ethical disagreements within the University, and provokes a student demonstration.

On the way to a crucial meeting to decide the issue, the key protagonist of the proposal is killed in an apparently unexplained accident.

Mr Chisholm said: “As a boy, I travelled to school for five years on the London Underground. When I was not reading Shelley’s poetry or Partington’s chemistry, I gazed at the names on the underground map. Eventually, various station names began to suggest names of people. Sixty-five years later, I have used these names for characters in my novel, which is based on life in a modern university.”

Mr Chisholm lives with his wife Monty, 84, a retired primary school teacher.

He was a scholar at Highgate School and at Christ’s College Cambridge, where he graduated with a first in mathematics and then gained a doctorate in elementary particle theory.

He lectured in Glasgow, Cardiff, Dublin, and the USA throughout his career before becoming a professor in Canterbury where he retired in 1994.

For more information about the book visit the website at www.roychisholm.com or contact dave@chilsholm.ch or telephone 01304 611823.