RICHARD Adams' beloved book Watership Down has become part of the fabric of children's literature around the world.

Now, the last book he wrote before he died will help fund Oxford's Story Museum to inspire generations of young readers.

On Thursday night, the Pembroke Street museum held the official launch event for The Adventures of Egg Box Dragon.

And at the event, Mr Adams' daughters Rosamond Mahony and Juliet Johnson – who lives in Oxford – pledged £5,000 from the publisher's advance to the museum's funds.

The gift was explicitly instructed by Mr Adams before he died at Cumnor Hill House care home on Christmas Eve last year.

He had attended the event where the appeal for funding to create the Story Museum was launched, and his daughters said he had backed the idea completely.

Mrs Johnson, who lives in North Oxford with her husband Peter and was part of the original group who came up with the idea of the museum, said: "Dad loved hearing about what was going on here.

"When the appeal launched he said 'I can't understand why this hasn't happened before'.

"He wished to give at least a chunk of the advance for Egg Box Dragon to the story museum, it was his idea."

The enchanting picture book, illustrated by Alex T. Smith, tells the story of a mischievous homemade dragon who is an expert at solving mysteries.

His talents are so renowned that the Queen herself requests his services to find the missing diamond from her crown.

Mrs Johnson explained that her father told her and her sister stories about the Egg Box Dragon while they were growing up, but it wasn't until near the end of his life they persuaded him to write them down.

The mother-of-three said: "I was visiting him at home in Whitchurch in Hampshire, it was a sunny day, and I gave him a cup of tea and shut him in the dining room with a pad of foolscap paper and when I went back it was done."

Mr Adams, born in Berkshire in 1920, studied history at Bradfield and Worcester College, Oxford.

His first novel, Watership Down, was published in 1972 and won the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian award for children's fiction that year.

Mrs Johnson said: "I think he was almost able to think like a child, and Egg Box Dragon almost is like a child: he's been blessed and cursed with this gift, and in a way, that's everyone's story."

Story Museum co-director Tish Francis said: "Richard Adams is a literary hero and he and his family have been great supporters of the Story Museum from the outset.

"We were delighted to host the launch of his last book and hope lots of children will enjoy reading this beautifully-illustrated story."

The Adventures of Egg Box Dragon is published by Hachette Children's Group and is available in hardback for £12.99 from hachettechildrens.co.uk