GARDENER, chef and film extra John Olding has died from pneumonia in the John Radcliffe Hospital, aged 85.

Mr Olding, of Upper Bar, Cowley, moved to Oxford in the early 1980s to study theology.

Born at Paddington, London, in June 1925, he worked as head chef for notable restaurants and hotels, including the Strand Palace Hotel and the Hurlingham Club, Fulham, both in London.

Before coming to Oxford, he owned a cafe at Chipping Norton.

He was also chef for a time at New College, Oxford, where he recalled cooking for The Lord of the Rings creator JRR Tolkien.

In later years, he worked as a freelance gardener in Oxford, tending the garden of the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Norham Gardens.

Mr Olding was a member of the Normandy Veterans’ Association and pioneer member of the Oxford Society of Crowd Artistes (Osca), created in 1994.

His film and TV credits included A Tale of Two Cities, The Madness of King George, David Copperfield, Emma, Vanity Fair and The New World.

In the mockumentary Mike Bassett: England Manager, he played the head of the Football Association, who appeared more absorbed in scoffing eclairs than in the fate of the England soccer squad.

His first screen appearance was in Never Let Me Go, with Clark Gable and Gene Tierney, which was filmed in Cornwall in 1952.

Friend and fellow extra Barry Clarke said: “Oxford has lost a great character.”