Newspaper columnist Miles Kington has died after a short illness at the age of 66.
The writer, who had written regularly for The Independent since the newspaper began in 1986, penned his last column on Thursday.

His books included Let's Parler Franglais!, based on his own light-hearted Anglo-French language.

Before joining the Independent, Kington wrote for The Times and Punch, where he became literary editor in 1973.

He also made a foray into broadcasting, with programmes such as Three Miles High, Great Railway Journeys Of The World, Steam Days and The Burma Road.

He wrote and presented several radio programmes in the 1990s, including a series of documentaries about world leaders for BBC Radio Four.

His other books included 1983's A Wolf In Frog's Clothing and Steaming Through Britain, published in 1990.

His autobiography, written in 2005, was titled Someone Like Me: Tales From a Borrowed Childhood.

Born in Northern Ireland in 1941, Kington went to college in Perthshire before reading modern languages at Trinity College, Oxford.

He began freelance writing shortly after graduating.

A huge jazz fan, a topic often touched on in his Independent column, Kington played the double bass and other instruments in the jazz group Instant Sunshine.

One of his first national newspaper jobs was as the jazz reviewer for The Times.

never heard of him before... never made it over here to the States I guess.  His columns are still online, and pretty funny.  His answers to the fake Christmas Quiz of 2007 hipped me to the fact that Andorra was the first country to declare war against Germany in WW I.  which is real interesting because I've never even heard of Andorra before.

His books included Let's Parler Franglais!, based on his own light-hearted Anglo-French language.

Alors, ici c'est son obitoire.  Miles etait un bon vieux chap, bon for a rire.  J'aimais especiallement son "Let's Parler Franglais" column, le seul reason que j'ai ever acheté Punch.

Rester en peace.