The funeral has taken place of former Oxford Mail editor Jim McClure, who died last month.

Mourners packed into St Mary le More Church in Wallingford to hear tributes to the man described by fellow writer Olov Svedelid as a “timeless genius”.

A horse drawn carriage carried the coffin

Jim came to the UK in 1966 from South Africa and went on to edit both The Oxford Times and the Oxford Mail.

He was also an award-winning author of crime novels and two factual books on the police, as well as a cartoonist, photographer, raconteur and artist.

Addressing the congregation, his son Alistair told how his father “never did anything half-heartedly”.

Also paying tribute, Peter Unsworth, his friend of 39 years and a former assistant editor of the Oxford Mail, said Jim’s “obsession for accuracy and demand for high standards” ensured that respect for The Oxford Times was maintained when he became editor in 1994, and that he would take a story and “tweak it here and there to turn the piece into a masterpiece”.

He added: “I would not be true to young Jim’s memory were I to paint a picture of a paragon of all virtues.

“He could fly off the handle at a second’s notice and could slam a door with the best of them. But he had qualities that made these outbursts seem insignificant and forgivable.

“Most important was his ability to say sorry. Too many people see climbing down as a weakness. In Jim it was a strength.”

Fellow crime writer and journalist Duncan Campbell, who first met Jim in South Africa in the early 1960s when they were teachers, said: “He was a terrific storyteller, both on the page and in person.

”Equally important, he was a wonderful listener, whether you were a lonely boy in an art class, a young journalist starting out on a career, or a motorcycle cop in San Diego.

“He was a keen observer of the world around him and that made him a great photographer and cartoonist.

“Honesty, wit and compassion were the three particular characteristics that always struck me about Jim.”