PETER Audley-Miller, a former antique dealer and Conservative county councillor for Wheatley, has died aged 89.

Mr Audley-Miller, who lived in Wheatley with his wife Marion, was born in 1919, at Catford, London.

Before the Second World War, he worked for Barclays Bank in London and during the conflict he joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve.

After serving with high-speed marine craft, he trained as a pilot, eventually becoming a staff navigation officer for the RAF at Kidlington.

He moved to Oxford in 1946 to start his antique shop, which was a popular feature of Oxford High Street for more than four decades.

He started at 55 High Street Oxford, then from 1954 to 1976 he moved to 48 High Street, where William Morris once ran his cycle repair business. Between 1976 and 1990 he ran the business from 46 High Street.

Throughout his career he specialised in antique porcelain, clocks and furniture. Mr Audley-Miller was a familiar face among the region’s antique dealers and was chairman and founder member of the Oxford Antiques Fair, which ran every year in Oxford Town Hall between 1961 until the 1990s.

He represented the Conservatives in the Wheatley and Great Milton division between 1973 to 1993.

He stood for the division in 1970 with Major AA Miller, but votes for the candidates at the adoption meeting were tied at 27 each and Mr Audley-Miller decided to step aside.

Once elected to the county council in 1973, his key interests were education, sports and leisure and conservation issues — particularly tree planting and he was also a member of the Southern Sports Council and Southern Arts Council.

Over the past 40 years he was a dynamic member of a variety of organisations in Wheatley.

His memorial service will be held on Thursday, February 26 at 3pm at St Mary’s Church, Wheatley.

He leaves his wife Marion, a son, a daughter and four grandchildren.