Damon Albarn has revealed that he is writing an opera about the Elizabethan John Dee.

The Blur star is working on the project with Watchmen writer Alan Moore and Gorillaz collaborator Jamie Hewlett.

Albarn said the opera would be based on Dee’s life, much of which was devoted to the study of alchemy and hermetic philosophy.

The 16th century mathematician was an influential consultant to Queen Elizabeth I of England.

“He was responsible for creating the concept of the British Empire,” Albarn told NY magazine.

“So he affects all our lives in one way or another. He was an alchemist … It's about his life.”

When asked if he knew what the music would sound like, Albarn replied: “No, not really.

“This will be the first time I've stopped writing for six months; I've just been reading about Hermetic magic and catalysts and philosophy, which is what all of his stuff is based on — Euclid and Pythagoras and all of that stuff.

“It's a lot. And it's been brilliant. I've got an idea of how it's going to sound.”

Albarn was also behind the 2007 opera, Monkey: Journey to the West, which was adapted from the 16th Century Chinese novel Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en.

The critically acclaimed production was shown in Manchester, Berlin and London.

(by Jason Gregory)