Hawking to write children's book

The Hawkings are currently on a six-day visit to Hong Kong

Physicist Stephen Hawking and his daughter are to write a science book for children which will be "a bit like Harry Potter", but without the magic.

They aim to explain theoretical physics in an accessible way to youngsters.

Professor Hawking became famous for his bestseller A Brief History of Time, which attempted to simplify cosmology, the Big Bang and black holes.

His daughter Lucy said their forthcoming project would be aimed at people like her own eight-year-old son.

"It is a story for children, which explains the wonders of the universe," she said.

She did not provide any further details, nor a likely publication date.

Professor Hawking - a professor of mathematics at the University of Cambridge - has sold more than 10 million copies of A Brief History of Time since it was first published in 1988.