TRIBUTES have been paid to a brilliant mathematician who spent much of his life teaching in the North-East.

Prof Tom Willmore, 85, died on Sunday of an infection he caught while suffering from a brain tumour.

He became chairman of pure mathematics at Durham University in 1965 and gave lectures until he became ill last year.

His wife Gillian said: "He was a wonderfully humane man. He had a great mind and a great sense of humour. He had a real interest in people and a love of teaching."

Born in Gillingham, Kent, he went to do a degree in mathematics at University College, London, aged just 16. In 1939 he was offered a lecturer's job before he had finished his degree. But the Second World War broke out and he joined RAF Cordington, in Bedfordshire, as a scientific officer.

In 1946 he left the services to become a lecturer at the University of Durham.

His funeral will take place on Monday at 11.45am at Durham Cathedral followed by a committal at Durham Crematorium at 1pm. Friends are invited for refreshments at St Mary's College, Elvet Hill, Durham, afterwards.

Family flowers only but donations can be sent to The University of Durham Willmore Fund, PO Box 43, Durham, DH1 3YA, to assist students of pure mathematics.