THE Oxford Union has long surpassed any controversy surrounding it's speakers - in fact, its website describes the union as "at the cutting edge"

Figures from celebrity culture are a regular occurrence, with past speakers including Michael Jackson, Johnny Depp and Sir Ian McKellen (the website fails to mention past speaker Katie Price and one doubts future guest Kerry Katona will one day be listed in their speakers of note).

It is then, of no major surprise that a musician more famous for childish jokes than political endeavour, like Mark Hoppus of Blink 182, had also been invited to speak to the fresher students of 2012.

His career now spans 20 years and his iconic status in the punk-pop genre generates a queue, which I'm told is "almost as long as David Hasselhoff's" was.

This is my first Oxford Union event and the stern door matron and security created a tense feeling akin to entering a secret society gathering. Once inside the debating chamber however, the tense atmosphere dissipates into elated squeals and chattering of students echoing around a room with decor that exudes wealth, class and intellectualism. A fashionable 10 minutes late to start, Mr Hoppus enters to even louder whoops and squeals, dressed all in black with a Mohawk that looks brilliantly out of place.

He manages to lull the audience into an automatic lecture mode by beginning with a Powerpoint presentation, breaking the ice with a cheeky "i'm so f*****g professional". Taking us through a day in the life of Blink 182's latest tour, Hoppus's talk is almost a "how to put on a ridiculously high budget show" presentation manual, with close ups of wires, 'points' (a.k.a lighting rigging), a sound desk the size of a student's first year room in halls and the band's 'backline' (a.k.a equipment) - all of which was packed down on every one of the 46 show nights in just 15minutes.

On tour, Blink use the most high powered laser ever to be used in a concert - so powerful, in fact, that road crew would light cigarettes off of it and after ignoring warnings to not look directly into it, Mark now has a permanent black dot on one of his eyeballs!

The sheer enormity of the show is fascinating and the lecture an insightful, educational experience for any Blink fan, musician, aspiring sound or road crew technician or even just vague music enthusiast with an interest in what it actually takes to put on a rock show in this day and age.

The presentation is brief, allowing for a lot of eager students' questions to be answered.

Mark answers each one of them in depth and seriousness, from humorous stories about bizarre fan behaviour to backstage tales of band hi-jinks.

A recurring theme was Blink182's place in punk, with Hoppus talking about his induction into punk in high school and how he and his bandmates were influenced by West Coast Californian punk and its everyday life story telling and happier side as opposed to the angry and political message of British punk and rock.

His advice for unsigned bands going on tour is to "put on a show" and to have fun with it, also letting slip that even he has forgotten the lyrics to his songs while on stage - even at this point in his career!

The last question answered, once again whoops, squeals and applause filled the room, a surge of students swarming to the front of the room where he stood.

Next was the meet and greet session - set up like a typical signing, with Hoppus at the front of the room in front of a queue for autographs/photos/hugs etc. He was very gracious and enthusiastic, receiving compliments he has probably heard a hundred times before as if they were new.

Asked if he had any advice for readers of this piece, he ripped a page out of the notebook and wrote: "Bring the awesome every single day, in every single way".

* If you are a student in Oxford, do sign up to the Oxford Union, they have speeches, debates and events almost every day. Go to their website for more information and their events calendar: http://www.oxford-union.org