High honours - Chichester's Tim Peake gets freedom of his home city

Tim Peake is getting Chichester's highest honour Credit: PA

Astronaut Tim Peake is being given the freedom of his home city today

Chichester City Council is awarding the highest honour it can bestow on Major Peake at a ceremony this afternoon.

Mayor Peter Evens will present the title at the Chichester Festival Theatre before Maj Peake talks about the European Space Agency's Principia Mission.

Youngsters in the audience will have the chance to quiz the first British astronaut to carry out a spacewalk and meet him.

Maj Peake was born in Chichester and attended the West Sussex city's High School for Boys Credit: PA

Maj Peake was born in Chichester and attended the West Sussex city's High School for Boys, which has named its science centre after him.

The Freedom of Chichester was an honour adopted in 1901, but its origins date back to the 12th and 13th centuries.