RAY Stanton King, who has died aged 82, was well known in Oxford as a businessman and councillor.

But outside the city, he achieved national and international fame in the most unlikely way - making bizarre tape recordings.

For four months in 1964, he sat in hotel rooms at night, dangling a microphone into basins and listening to drainpipes gurgling.

The result was Sink Symphony, five minutes three seconds of the sounds of British hotel plumbing.

It won him the British Tape of the Year award, and later the Grand Prix at the International Tape Recording Contest in Lausanne.

He said he entered the tape "just for a gag, to make the judges laugh in between the serious stuff", and was amazed when he picked up both major prizes.

The following year, he made a tape of people blowing their noses.

Mr Stanton King ran photographic, electrical and hobbies shops in Oxford, and represented West Ward on the city council. He was also chairman of the City of Oxford Conservative Association.

He formerly lived in Vernon Avenue, North Hinksey, but had moved with his wife Audrey to Kingswear, Devon. He died in Brixham Hospital.