The death of Sir Terry Wogan on Sunday morning has brought back memories for one Falmouth resident who met the beloved broadcaster, and bought his car.

Classic car enthusiast Christopher Smith met Sir Terry on a few occasions as his wife and the BBC presenter shared a mutual friend and they were at three or four of the same social events.

He said: ""He was a very warm, lovely guy. What people saw on the telly was the real man."

As for the car, Christopher said: "Some years ago I spotted a 1992 Bentley Turbo R in an auction at a surprisingly low reserve figure. It was both the model and the colour that I'd been looking out for some time, but also it had an interesting provenance, being ex-Terry Wogan, someone known for his liking for Bentleys and Rolls Royces.

"Bidding was light and I secured the car, which gave me a number of years of happy motoring, often on local wedding duty for friends. I wrote to Terry Wogan to let him know his old car had ended up in the ownership of a couple of Falmouth TOGS (Terry's Old Geysers) and received a chatty hand typed letter back saying that the only thing wrong with the car was that it kept running out of petrol when he didn't have time to fill it up."

In the letter to Christopher, Sir Terry asks if he's sure it's the same car, as "it never looked that good when I owned it."

"Still," he added, "it's good to see that the old thing is spending its declining years in comfort."

Christopher no longer owns the Bentley, and added that it was not the first ex-celebrity car Christopher had owned, as he once bought a Range Rover which was one of three identical cars used as Robert Maxwell's guest transport.

Sir Terry, who brought Helston's Flora Day to a wider audience with his hit single The Floral Dance, succumbed to cancer on Sunday, aged 77.

His family said in a statement: "Sir Terry Wogan died today after a short but brave battle with cancer.

"He passed away surrounded by his family. While we understand he will be missed by many, the family ask that their privacy is respected at this time."

BBC director general Tony Hall said: "Terry truly was a national treasure."