Kaddish was recited in church in memory of Vidal Sassoon last week at a London ceremony following the death of the groundbreaking Jewish hairdresser in May, aged 84.

Family and friends, including actor Sir Michael Caine, designer Zandra Rhodes and Jaeger boss Harold Tillman attended a service at St Paul’s Cathedral on Friday to celebrate the life of a man who created a defining image of the 1960s with his “five points cut” hairstyle.

The choice of location to honour a man who, with Jewish contemporaries in the East End, fought fascists, was not lost on Baroness Rabbi Julia Neuberger, who spoke of Mr Sassoon as a “proud Jew” whose strong religious identity never left him.

But Rabbi Neuberger, who recalled meeting the hairdresser in a BBC Green Room, said the fact that the memorial was taking place in “one of London’s most Christian landmarks” should encourage Jews and Christians to learn from each other on matters of death and bereavement.

Mr Sassoon’s son Elan, from his marriage to actress Beverly Adams, gave a tearful tribute to his father.