THE man who was too clever for Oxford has retired after 40 years.

Leofranc Holford-Strevens was already something of a legend even before his eagerly anticipated arrival at Oxford University Press.

“It was an event that no one who worked at the Press at the time will ever forget,” recalled the late Mick Belson in his book On The Press, about craftsmen at the great printing house.

For the advance publicity suggested Dr Holford-Strevens was a man so clever and knew so many languages that they could not find a place for him within the university.

The remarkable thing was that despite such billing, he did not disappoint. And 40 years later, as he prepares to begin his retirement, Dr Holford-Strevens can rest assured he will be remembered as an OUP institution.

Dr Holford-Strevens, who celebrated his 65th birthday yesterday, began work at the OUP in 1971 in the printing division as a graduate proofreader and since then has cast his expert eye over hundreds of heavyweight tomes.

It matters little if the books are in Latin, German or Russian, or if the subject is the classical texts of Euripides or musicology, Dr Holford-Strevens is able to spot any factual error or grammatical sloppiness.

He reckons to have proof read, or edited, well in excess of 500 books, sparing readers and eminent authors from embarrassing howlers or misplaced hyphens.

When he first arrived he was viewed as the epitome of an absent-minded professor. Mr Belson described the first sighting: “He was dishevelled in his dress and somehow managed to read The Times while walking down the street missing lampposts by inches.”

As well as Latin, Dr Holford-Strevens speaks all the Romantic languages (which as well as French, Italian and Spanish includes Romanian) and the Germanic languages, along with Russian.

“I learnt Russian as a boy because a boy in my form decided to learn the language when the Sputnik was launched. If he was going to, I thought I would. I suppose in total, I can handle about 40 languages,” he said.

The American musicologist Bonnie Blackburn was one author he particularly enjoyed working with. He said: “In 1988 I was given her book A Correspondence of Renaissance Musicians because I understood Italian. But it meant me having to learn about musical notation in the 15 and 16th centuries.”

“One thing led to another and we got married.”

In “retirement” it seems there will be little time for gardening. He will be returning to writing about one of his favourite subjects, the 2nd century Roman writer Aulus Gellius, who it is no surprise to learn took a particular interest in questions of grammar and literary style.