Newley-opened St Pancras railway station in London has provided the ultimate platform for the work of Oxfordshire sculptor Martin Jennings.

His statue of Oxfordshire's former Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman, above, was unveiled this week by Betjeman's daughter Candida Lycett Green.

Within minutes, the bronze statue had become the capital's newest tourist attraction, with people queuing to have their photographs taken next to it. The work pays homage to Betjeman's battle to help save St Pancras in 1966 when the station came under threat of demolition amid plans to amalgamate it with King's Cross.

Mr Jennings, right, won a competition to create the statue and only began work at his studio on the Blenheim Estate, Woodstock, in May.

He said: "It ended up being a race against time to have it ready.

"With the statue going into such a public place, with such incredible exposure, I did feel a huge responsibility. But it seems to be popular."

Ms Lycett Green, who lives near Uffington, near Faringdon, advised him on how best to capture the spirit of her father, who lived in Wantage and died in 1984.

At one stage she suggested that her father needed to look slightly more scruffy.

But she was delighted with the final outcome.

She said: "My father would have been so honoured, the statue is inspired.

"He has captured his sense of wonder on first walking into a great man-made space such as a cathedral. He has presented my father as if he had walked into the newly-refurbished station for the first time since he saved it all those years ago."