Mourners paid their last respects today to Professor Stephen Hawking, in a ceremony that took place at at Great St Mary’s Church on Saturday, Varsity reported.

The private ceremony was attended by the former professor’s family, colleagues and friends. Guests were greeted by senior clerics upon arrival, and the service will be led by Dr Cally Hammond, dean of Gonville & Caius College.

Actor Eddie Redmayne, who portrayed Hawking in the Oscar-winning The Theory of Everything, read from the Bible before a reading by the astronomer royal and former master of Trinity College, Martin Rees.

Hawking, the former Lucasian professor of mathematics until 2009 and fellow of Gonville & Caius College for over 52 years, died in Cambridge on the 14th March, aged 76.