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Philip Pullman hosted BBC Radio 4's With Great Pleasure programme yesterday. The His Dark Materials author entertained an audience at the Pegasus Theatre in Oxford, with actors reading a selection of his favourite poems and excerpts. You can listen again to the programme on the BBC's website for the next six days.

Philip Pullman will tonight be joining other luminaries such as musician Billy Bragg and human rights lawyer Imran Khan for Oxford Brookes University's annual Chancellor's Lecture, reports [link=http://www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/news/tiooxmail/display.var.1045366.0.pullman_joins_lecture_lineup.php]The Oxford Times[/link]. The panel will be chaired by broadcaster Jon Snow and will consider the question, “What does the world need from us?”, looking ahead to what challenges the world will face in 2015, and how universities can respond. [link=http://www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/news/tiooxmail/display.var.1045366.0.pullman_joins_lecture_lineup.php]Read more.[/link]

“On a cold, fretful afternoon in early October, 1872, a hansom cab drew up outside the offices of Lockhart and Selby and a young girl got out and paid the driver. Her name was Sally Lockhart; and within fifteen minutes, she was going to kill a man.” The BBC's adaptation of Philip Pullman's first book in the series, Ruby in the Smoke, is set to air this Christmas and an advance screening is to take place at the National Film Theatre. Pullman will take part in a Q&A following the preview. You can book tickets online at the NFT's website.

An interview of Eva Green by the French magazine Studio is doing the rounds at the moment. In it, Eva remarks that Eric Bana, Kevin Bacon and John Hurt were set to join the cast of The Golden Compass. The interview was however conducted before filming began in September and our New Line source has said that both Bana and Bacon are old rumours. Indeed, BttS reported previously that Eric Bana was in negotiations to play Lord Asriel at an earlier stage. View the interview (relevant info at the very bottom).

There has been further filming going on in Oxford. Townie on the forums says: “They were filming in Ship Street, between the Turl (where Exeter/Jordan is) and Cornmarket. There were lots of people in nice costumes and a fair few dons and riff-raffy looking people and some little street urchins. There was a real live cat and they were getting it to jump up on its hind legs using a clicking thing, then they got it to jump over what looked like trip wire close to the ground. I'm taking it to be somebody's dæmon.”

There have also been reports that there has been filming of scenes within “our” world. This would suggest that New Line may be taking the film away from the plot of the Golden Compass as we know it.

More exciting, Kirusato from the forums, managed to shoot some film on his mobile phone of the filming. You can watch it here.

Daniel Craig, the actor playing Lord Asriel in The Golden Compass movie, is doing the press rounds with his James Bond film, Casino Royale, releasing this week He had a few words to say on His Dark Materials in one interview:

“Those are three of my favorite books, the Philip Pullman trilogy. Just the timing worked out. New Line came and said, ‘Are you interested?’ And I was interested. I think they are fantastic children’s books. I think they’re about love and they’re about growing up and they’re about how, as adults, we should see the world, and how, for children, growing up is one of the biggest struggles, one of the toughest things you’ll ever do.”

Darren Epstein of Cards Inc. and Master Replicas – the two companies developing cards, toys and prop replicas for The Golden Compass film – has very kindly agreed to answer any questions His Dark Materials fans may have on their plans. What kind of products would you like to see in this field? What sorts of things would you not like to see? Any and all questions in the comments please, and we'll put them to Darren – who has visited the set and been hands-on with clockwork spies and the alethiometer – very soon.

edit: A lot of people are just suggesting items – can anyone perhaps think of some straight-up questions they'd like to ask?

Superheroflix have an interview with Eva Green, who is playing Serafina Pekkala in The Golden Compass movie. The bulk of the interview is about her turn in the next Bond film, Casino Royale, but she has some things to say about His Dark Materials too:

“I'm playing Serafina Pekkala, a good witch, a very wise character. I hope the studio will be brave enough to bring the darkness and not make it a new Harry Potter. It questions religion and God, so we'll see what they do with it. But the first script is really good.” Read more.

EvaGreenWeb also tip us to Eva talking to The Telegraph a few days ago about her witch training: “Serafina has to just drop [to land], and I always have problems, even on swings and rollercoasters. So this is the most challenging thing. It's very fast.”

Irish-based band Armoured Bear's debut single came out last week. The group say they're “big fans of the books, and all things HDM, and always give it a mention at live shows.” The band's debut single, Imagination went on release last Friday (Oct. 20th) and is also available on iTunes. Mr. Pullman has recieved a copy of the full twelve track album entitled Honeycomb Mooons (released Jan. 2007) and responded positively to the music. Check their website for more. If the 'fan music' alarm bell is ringing in your head, rest assured – the band kindly sent us a copy of the album and the music is very amenable.

Zeppelins are very much a staple of the alternative history genre, featuring as they do in His Dark Materials. The BBC have an interesting piece on the noble craft. Philip Pullman gives a few words on his use of the drigible: “I used it for scenery. It is picturesque. The curious notion of something that is lighter than air is fascinating to begin with. There are also associations with glamour and luxury, the idea of sipping champagne as you cross the Atlantic. And it ties into our feelings about the threat that conventional aviation poses to the environment.” Read more.