The Sydney-born star of The Clive James Show was diagnosed with leukaemia, kidney failure and lung disease in 2010 and died at home in Cambridge on November 24.

A private funeral took place in the chapel at Pembroke College, Cambridge on Wednesday. His death was announced on the same day as the passing of Beyond the Fringe satirist and stage director Jonathan Miller, who died aged 85.

Monty Python star Eric Idle tweeted: "Savage news this morning. To lose one friend is bad but to lose two reeks of carelessness. The beloved hilarious genius Jonathan Miller who dramatically changed my life three times, and dear Clive James my pal at Cambridge. Its a f***ing rainy day in LA appropriate for tears."

Actor, comedian and writer Stephen Fry said on Twitter: "Clive James and Jonathan Miller - two heroes of mine growing up. Each so wildly and profusely gifted in so many directions.

"Very sorry to think they're not in this world any more. And I just heard that Gary Rhodes has been snatched from us too. How very sad."

Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan tweeted: "RIP Clive James, 80. A brilliantly funny man."

Former ITV and BBC boss, Lord Grade, told BBC Radio 4: "(Clive James) had a wonderful conflict within him which he readily admitted. He wanted to be popular and recognised in the street and when he was, he thought, 'People are not taking me seriously, I'm quite a serious chap'.

"But he did it very lightly, he was not agonising about it, he was observational.

"But he was a very honest critic, a very honest critic and a very honest observer, and funny, funny, funny."

Professor Sir David Cannadine, president of the British Academy, told the PA news agency: "Literary criticism, journalism, essays, fiction, poetry, broadcasting: there was simply no pursuit to which Clive James could not turn his hand and excel. For over 50 years, he lit up this world with his wit, wisdom and incisive commentary. Truly, we will not see his like again."

James was awarded the President's Medal by the British Academy in 2014.

BBC director-general Lord Tony Hall said James was "a clever, witty and thought-provoking broadcaster. He had a huge range of talents and everything he did was essential listening or viewing. He is irreplaceable".

Actor and theatre director Samuel West also remembered James, writing in a tweet: "We were lucky to have him for so long after his diagnosis. We were lucky to have him at all. RIP Clive James."

In a second tweet, he added: "Thinking back with such joy to family Sundays around the breakfast table, my father reading Clive James's Observer TV column aloud to us, weeping with laughter, often unable to finish. Beautiful, turned, silly, explosively funny prose. What a loss."

American satirist PJ O'Rourke said he will remember James for "the sheer breadth of his learning and his interest".

He told BBC Radio 4: "The man had come as close as anybody since Dr Johnson to having read everything. Simply everything."

Australian Associated Press