A man who literally brought James Bond to Oxfordshire has died of suspected heart failure.

John Gardner wrote 14 Bond novels from 1981 to 1995, following in the footsteps of authors Ian Fleming and Kingsley Amis in bringing the superspy to life for millions of avid readers.

Many of Mr Gardner's 007 novels were written in his study at his home in Bloxham, near Banbury.

In 1984's Role Of Honor, his fourth Bond novel, Mr Gardner even brought the world famous all-action hero to Banbury, where he foiled a fiendish plot centred around a village base full of "micro computers".

Many parts of Mr Gardner's novel, including a thrilling blimp ride, overlapped with 1985 James Bond movie A View To A Kill, a theme that was repeated throughout the 1980s.

In 1989 Mr Gardner wrote the first of his two Bond movie novels, Licence To Kill.

GoldenEye, his penultimate Bond novel, followed in 1995, but it was his dozen other Bond novels which were most enjoyed by his fans.

Mr Gardner became the second Oxfordshire author to write about Bond in 1980, having been approached by Glidrose Publications Limited to take on the mantle.

Ian Fleming, the character's creator, had had a family home in Nettlebed, near Henley.

Mr Gardner was already well known for another literary creation, Boysie Oakes, a cowardly comic character who is recruited into a British spy agency.

However, words were not Gardner's first choice of career.

He was born in Northumbria in November 1926, and studied at Cambridge and Oxford before becoming a priest for seven years.

He later withdrew from the clergy and worked as a theatre critic in Stratford-upon-Avon before embarking on a literary career.

In 1985 Mr Gardner told the Oxford Times: "I think writers of fiction are the luckiest people in the world.

"Who else gets the chance of sitting and telling themselves stories - and getting paid for it?

"I don't feel I am a complete person unless I am sitting at a machine, doing a writing job."

Mr Gardner died at his home in Basingstoke on Friday, aged 80. He is survived by his fiancée Patricia, who he first met at university, two daughters and a son.