John Rose, the man who spawned an Oxford institution, has died after a short illness, aged 79.

Mr Rose will be most widely remembered for the most innovative of his creations, the Daily Information -- the free sheet of local information, produced in-house and distributed every afternoon to colleges, university departments, libraries and pubs.

The first issue, which appeared in September 1964, advertised a room to let for £3 a week and The Valley of Decision, starring Gregory Peck, at the Moulin Rouge. A recent edition advertised a flat for £875 pcm and a course of hypnosis for those wanting to stop smoking.

Mr Rose's delight in communications was matched by an admiration for technology.

His home in Woodstock Road, his office and the greenhouse at the end of the garden were Aladdin's caves of machines and gadgets.

He had the first ISDN line in Oxford and took to phone texting like the younger generation.

In 1980 he established a rental service for word processors -- a blessing to many trying to produce theses on brain power and shoestrings. The first three were called Pip, Squeak and Wilfred, and were housed in a room left open 24-hours a day on an honesty system.

Throughout the 1990s Mr Rose became a familiar figure in local politics looking, someone said, like a cross between Tolstoy and Leonardo as he toured north Oxford canvassing for his Local Government Reform Party.

He was an idealist of strongly held and vigorously expressed opinions who, while readily accepting his opponents' equal rights, saw no point in compromise.

His manifesto was a cry for freedom from the tyranny of Government regulation and bureaucracy.

Mr Rose's tastes, like his politics, were undiluted -- he liked his poetry to rhyme, his songs Edwardian and his drink sweet -- he enjoyed mead and Madeira.

He combined a rosy view of England's past with an impatient excitement about future technical possibilities.

He died peacefully at home after an illness, during which he continued to run the Daily Information and oversaw production of a new map and guide, which marks meeting places.

He is survived by Susan, the daughter of his first marriage, and by his second wife Jessica and their daughter Miranda.