Are you Ronnie Barker’s long lost love? That is the question currently being asked by a biographer searching for the late comedian’s old Oxford flame.

Richard Webber, a journalist and author, has been studying the life of the late Two Ronnies funnyman for the past year.

Remembering Ronnie Barker will be published by Century, an imprint of Random House, next month and is being touted as the definitive biography – but its author believes there is one missing piece.

He said: “When Ronnie was working at the Oxford Playhouse in the early 1950s, he dated a student actress called Jean Wagstaff.

“In his autobiography, he describes her as ‘the girlfriend’ and then the ‘fiancee’ but they lost touch when he moved to London.”

He added: “This is the first time anyone has really studied Ronnie and spoken to all those people who were close to him.

“I’ve spoken to colleagues, old schoolmates, and everyone from make-up artists to close friends.

“But I think this woman could really help fill in a small gap about Ronnie’s life.”

Ronald William George Barker was born in 1925 in Bedford, but moved to Oxford when he was a young child.

The Porridge and Open All Hours star lived in Cowley and attended the City of Oxford High School for Boys in George Street.

He tried his hand at architecture and banking before returning to his original love of acting, with three years at the Oxford Playhouse in the early 1950s.

Mr Webber said: “It was at the Playhouse where Ronnie spent a good many years and began to feel his skills as an actor came to the fore.

“He had great fun and got good local reviews in places like the Oxford Mail and Times so began to grow in confidence.”

And it was here that he met Miss Wagstaff.

He said: “I know her father ran an gentleman outfitters in Oxford, but I can’t find any trace of that.

“And Equity, the trade union for performers, have no record of her on their system, so she can’t have stayed an actress for long.”

Mr Barker met his future wife Joy when he moved away from Oxford and the two were married in 1957.

The couple moved back to Dean, near Chipping Norton, years later and Mr Barker died at Katherine House hospice in Adderbury on October 3, 2005.

Mr Webber added: “Ronnie was such an interesting character and I would love to chat to this woman and just get the last piece of the puzzle.”

Can you help find Ronnie Barker’s lost love? Send an email to r.webber@virgin.net or call 01643 706990.