Last respects for Sir John Mortimer

A suitably starry cast paid their respects to Sir John Mortimer (pictured), the writer, wit and bob viveur, who was buried yesterday at the church of St Mary the Virgin, in Turville, near Henley-on-Thames.

Among the congregation remembering Mortimer, who died last week aged 85, were Jeremy Paxman, the Newsnight presenter, Lord [Melvyn] Bragg, Bob Geldof, Joss Ackland, Dame Eileen Atkins and Jean Marsh, as well as his old colleague Geoffrey Robertson, QC, and his wife, Kathy Lette. The vicar acknowledged Sir John's atheism, but said that despite his lack of faith he "always came to midnight Mass on Christmas Eve".

In the front pews sat Sir John's large extended family. Ross Bentley, the long-lost son of whom he became aware only four years ago, sat with his mother, the actress Wendy Craig. "Dad's aspiration was to write in the way Fred Astaire danced," Ross said, before reading the words of the Irving Berlin song Let's Face the Music and Dance.

Rosie and Emily Mortimer, the Hollywood actress, read a favourite poem, Byron's So We'll Go No More a-Roving. Another daughter, Sally, along with his six grandchildren, read from Ecclesiastes, and musical interludes came from Alessandro Nivola, his son-in-law, and from Jon Lord, of the rock band Deep Purple.

Sir Richard Eyre said that he had never tired of hearing John's anecdotes. "And John," he added, "never tired of telling them." He added: "He loved women, and in return they gave him adulation, tempered by exasperation. He needed an audience and approbation, and when he received these, it was as if the sun had come out." ·