Auberon Waugh dies aged 61

Auberon Waugh, writer and critic and son of the highly acclaimed novelist Evelyn Waugh, has died aged 61. He was one of the most controversial journalists of his age - publishing sharply sarcastic columns in Private Eye, The Spectator, New Statesman, the Sunday Telegraph and the Daily Telegraph.

He began his professional life as a novelist, in emulation of his father. He published 5 novels in all: The Foxglove Saga (1960), Path of Dalliance (1963), Who are the Violets Now? (1966), Consider the Lillies (1968) and A Bed of Flowers (1971), and contributed to introductions for Penguin books. However, it was in journalism and column writing that his real talent lay.

Though robustly aggressive in his journalistic writing he had long suffered from health problems after he badly injured himself during his National Service. An accident with a Browning machine gun almost cost him his life and meant that he lost a lung, his spleen and a finger.

He was famous for his long-term vendettas against other writers and politicians, and his confrontational style made him a great many enemies. Those who knew him well, however, described him as a gentle, generous man with a wicked sense of humour.