BRITAIN: Journalist and broadcaster Bernard Levin has died at the age of 75. He had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
The most famous - and controversial - journalist of his day, he wrote a column for the Times between 1971 and 1997. Before that he wrote for the Spectator and was for more than a decade the theatre critic of the Daily Express and later the Daily Mail.
During the 1960s he began a career in television and radio and became a familiar face to millions of viewers.
He was a regular on the satirical Saturday night news programme That Was The Week That Was, where his abrasive style frequently landed him in hot water.
On one occasion he was particularly savage in his review of a play starring the actress and singer Agnes Bernelle. The following week Ms Bernelle's husband, Desmond Leslie, arrived at the studio and punched him in front of a live audience of 11 million viewers.
Born Herbert Bernard Levin in August 1928, the son of a north London tailor, his first foray into journalism was in the magazine Truth. He went on to write a political column in the Spectator before joining the Daily Express and the Daily Mail.
In 1971 he began a regular column in the Times and the former left-wing firebrand said he looked forward to writing "against the grain" of the paper.
The Times trumpeted his arrival in a front-page announcement, describing him as "savage, clever, cunning, witty and brilliant".
His subjects were varied but Levin was always a passionate supporter of the underdog and an enemy of the high, the mighty and the pompous.
He wrote the column until 1997, when ill-health forced him to scale back his commitments, but continued to contribute pieces until July 1998.
Robert Thomson, editor of the Times, said: "Bernard Levin was one of the most gifted and influential columnists to write for the Times.
"The beauty of his language and originality of his thought ensured that he had an enthusiastic audience far beyond the borders of Britain."