An eccentric dramatist and director who lived in Charlbury has died at the age of 69.

David Halliwell, who died on March 16, was most famous for writing the highly acclaimed and ground-breaking play Little Malcolm and his Struggle Against the Eunuchs.

Mike Leigh directed the six-hour play in 1965 at London's Unity Theatre.

Mr Halliwell went on to write other plays and episodes of Dr Who and The Bill.

Friend Igor Goldkind, of Charlbury, said: "He was certainly the most extraordinary resident of Charlbury I have ever met. He was a living, breathing poet and dramatist of great, but largely unrecognised and unrewarded talent. Not only was he once great friends with the Nobel Prize laureate Harold Pinter, he worked with John Lennon and crossed whiskey-fuelled swords with Samuel Beckett, among many other luminaries of British drama."

A memorial service is being held at Charlbury Corner House tomorrow, from 4-6pm.