Family and friends lay Ronnie Barker to rest

Ronnie Barker, a comedian whose dislike of showbusiness gatherings was so intense he never stayed at a party for more than five minutes, was laid to rest yesterday in a private funeral attended by just family and close friends.

Nearly 30 of Barker's family, as well as two or three close local friends joined his wife Joy, daughter Charlotte and son Larry to say goodbye to the star, who died 10 days ago.

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The Porridge star's son, Adam, who is wanted by police on child pornography charges, did not attend, thwarting a significant police presence.

None of Barker's celebrity friends attended, such as the other half of his television comedy duo, Ronnie Corbett, or his Open All Hours co-star David Jason.

They are expected to attend a larger memorial service for Barker, likely to be held in Covent Garden next year. The funeral was held at Banbury Crematorium in Oxfordshire, just a few miles from Barker's home village of Dean, near Chipping Norton, where he ran an antique shop in later life.

During the 30-minute humanist funeral service, Charlotte read a passage from Alice in Wonderland, which was one of the comedian's favourite books.

That was followed by a tribute, read by a humanist celebrant, Nigel Collins. He also read some of the hundreds of tributes which had flooded in after Barker's death.

Mr Collins went on to read a tribute by Barker's family, in which they remembered him as he had been to them, at home.

Mr Collins said: "It was quite private and not the sort of thing you would see in obituaries."