Rock singer Courtney Love addresses Oxford Union

Love married Nirvana's Kurt Cobain in February 1992

US singer Courtney Love has told of her passion for quantum physics and Greek myths while addressing 300 students at the Oxford Union.

The widow of former Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain - who killed himself in 1994 - took the stand for an hour on Friday night.

She said her love for their 17-year-old daughter, Frances Bean, was the most important thing in the world to her.

It came a day after restrictions on her access to her daughter were extended.

Love, singer in rock band Hole, followed in the footsteps of Michael Jackson and former US president Bill Clinton by speaking at the forum.

This is where I want to live, either Oxfordshire or Buckinghamshire Courtney Love

Her daughter, her only child, is in the care of Cobain's mother and sister after temporary custody was granted to them by a Los Angeles judge in December.

Love told students how her daughter had kept her going after Cobain's suicide.

"What gave me strength was my daughter's life force," she said.

"My daughter's the most important thing to me, in my life."

Of her love of Greek myths, she referred to the saga of a mother and her child: "I'm having my Demeter and Persephone moment with my daughter."

She also spoke of the devastating impact Cobain's death had on her.

"That action had a horrible effect on our family. It's not cool. It just wasn't cool," she said.

'Magical' Oxford

"And that action was regretted the second it happened. I was expected by the zeitgeist to go with him or something.

"But I worked. I had to work to get money to feed my kid."

Describing herself as a feminist, she said she did not like to be referred to simply as Cobain's widow.

"I never expected I would be connected to the Alpha male as some kind of ancillary object and to this day it mystifies me."

Love, who said she used to live in Liverpool, described herself as "Amglish".

"This is where I want to live, either Oxfordshire or Buckinghamshire," she said.

"The first time I came to Oxford I was with Echo and the Bunnymen and I walked around, and the bricks were so black and it was so magical."

She also said Robert Graves was her favourite author, that she would take Mozart's music to a desert island and that the work of poet Rilke, along with watching quantum physics videos on YouTube, had affected her music.