RICHARD Adams, the awardwinning Whitchurch author of books including Watership Down, died aged 96 on Christmas Eve.

His daughter, Juliet Johnson, reported that his health had been “ailing for some time” but he “died peacefully” on Christmas Eve.

The official website of the author’s bestselling work said: “Richard’s much loved family announce with sadness that their dear father, grandfather, and great-grandfather passed away peacefully at 10pm on Christmas Eve.”

He lived in Whitchurch for more than 20 years, celebrating his 90th birthday in the White Hart Hotel, calling the town his “dear Whitchurch.”

There, he was honoured with a portrait of himself, and gave an impromptu performance of An Ode to Whitchurch, a small poem he wrote about the town.

He said: “I floor my pints at Whitchurch bars. At Whitchurch tables eat my dinners and I gaze aloft at Whitchurch stars. Oh Whitchurch publicans and sinners rejoice with me, this place is ours.”

The statement that announced his death quoted a section of Watership Down: “It seemed to Hazel that he would not be needing his body any more, so he left it lying on the edge of the ditch, but stopped for a moment to watch his rabbits and to try to get used to the extraordinary feeling that strength and speed were flowing inexhaustibly out of him into their sleek young bodies and healthy senses.”

“You needn’t worry about them,” said his companion.

“They’ll be alright – and thousands like them.”

The author was born in Wash Common, just outside Newbury in 1920.

Adams was a Second World War veteran and was formerly a civil servant before becoming an author.

Watership Down, for which Adams is best known,is a children’s classic about a group of rabbits in search of a new home after their warren was destroyed, and was published in 1972.

Adams was 52, and the book went on to sell more than 50 million copies in its print run.

There will be a new version of the classic book commissioned by the BBC in 2017, with the voice cast including John Boyega, James McAvoy and Sir Ben Kingsley.