KEVIN SPACEY has succeeded PATRICK STEWART as the new lecturer at the U.K.'s prestigious Oxford University.
The American Beauty star will give his inaugural speech as a visiting professor at St Catherine's College in Oxford on Monday (13Oct08).
And he is delighted to be fulfilling the role as the Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre.
He says, "If my mother was still alive she would be smiling because she was a great Anglophile.
"She loved Britain and this would make her quite pleased." The role promotes interest in contemporary theatre at the university. Spacey will hold the position for one year.