When Rachel Owen, an Oxford academic, died this week, she was widely described as the former partner of Thom Yorke of Radiohead. However, The Times can disclose that they were husband and wife, having married in a private ceremony 13 years ago.

Dr Owen’s death of cancer at the age of 48 was announced on Monday by Pembroke College, where the academic, printmaker and photographer had taught Italian renaissance literature.

She met Yorke at Exeter University before he achieved fame as the singer with one of the country’s most successful and critically acclaimed bands.

They had two children, Noah, 15, and Agnes, 12, before splitting amicably last year after 23 years together. The couple were generally referred to in the press as partners, and Yorke