OXFORD'S new Lord Mayor will be sworn in at Oxford Town Hall today.

Colin Cook will be appointed in the traditional ceremony as the retiring Lord Mayor of Oxford Jean Fooks officially steps down.

Mr Cook, who represents Jericho and Osney ward, said “It is a great honour and privilege to have been chosen as Oxford's next Lord Mayor. If someone had told me when I first arrived as a fresh-faced student 36 years ago, that I would one day be the Lord Mayor of this city, I would not have believed them.

"I am immensely proud to have the chance to be the Lord Mayor of the city in which I have made my home, and I am very much looking forward to my year in office representing the citizens of Oxford at events around the city and beyond.”

Mr Cook first lived in Oxford in 1982 as a student to read biochemistry at Hertford College. He completed a PGCE in Cambridge and then returned to Oxford to study and work at the city's department of physiology. He was appointed chief technician of Oxford University's Medical Sciences Teaching Centre in 2002.

He was initially elected as a city councillor for West ward in 1999 and his hobbies include cycling, skiing, DIY and reading.

Fellow Labour councillor Sajjad Malik will be elected deputy Lord Mayor and Craig Simmons, a Green councillor, will be appointed Sheriff.