Sunday Times and Sun columnist Rod Liddle dies

The Sunday Times and Sun columnist Rod Liddle has died.

The 66-year-old died in a Middlesbrough hospital yesterday evening after a short illness, News UK said.

Liddle had written for The Sunday Times since 2005 and The Sun since 2011. He was also a weekly columnist at The Spectator and had a show on Times Radio.

His three children said they were "very saddened and shocked at the sudden passing of our wonderful father".

"Even in hospital in the last few weeks, he consistently held the room and never let the awful situation show," they added.

Their statement said he had left "a legacy that we are all incredibly proud of".

Liddle previously edited Radio 4's Today programme but was forced to resign in 2003 over a piece in The Guardian that the BBC said had breached its impartiality rules.

His current employers said they were shocked at his sudden death and paid tribute to a writer who was one of Britain's best known journalists.

Rebekah Brooks, the chief executive of News UK, called Liddle "an inimitable journalistic force - brilliant, provocative and immensely talented".

She said he "challenged conventional thinking and left an indelible mark on British journalism".

More tributes came from the editor of The Sunday Times, Ben Taylor, who said colleagues would "miss him desperately".

Mr Taylor said Liddle "used his unique talent to speak for the readers, highlighting the cant and absurdity that bedevils modern life".

The Sun's editor, Victoria Newton, said he was a champion of press freedom and a "brilliant, fearless columnist who was much loved by all at The Sun".

She said colleagues would remember "his warmth and humour and for the belly laughs we had at his wildly entertaining lunches and dinners where he would hold court".

Liddle grew up in southeast London and moved to Middlesbrough, where his father's family were from, when he was about eight.

He got his first job in journalism at the South Wales Echo and worked for the Labour Party as a researcher before joining the BBC as a trainee, landing the prestigious job leading the Today programme in 1998.

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