Bernard Levin dies at 75

Bernard Levin, one of British journalism's most prolific, famous and outspoken voices, has died at the age of 75.

For over a quarter of a century he wrote two, sometimes three columns a week for The Times on subjects as diverse as smoking bans, Britain's electoral system, the decline of West End theatre and the government of Singapore.

At his height he set the agenda for the day's debate and though he infuriated many with his views and his style, he built up a loyal following among the paper's readers.

Levin was recruited to The Times from the Daily Mail by its then editor William Rees-Mogg in 1971. His regular column only came to an end in 1997, though he continued to write elsewhere in the paper.

During his reign there were only two interruptions. One was caused by the year-long print dispute at the end of the Seventies, the other was a self-imposed break at the end of the Eighties.

His partnership with Rees-Mogg was close. Levin occupied a desk in the editor's outer office and the pair were in constant touch throughout the day. According to John Grigg, the official historian of The Times, they shared a passion for civil and religious liberty and for "a good journalistic row".

There can have been few modern columnists whose words have prompted governments to take out full-page adverts in a rival newspaper by way of reply. In May 1990 the government of Singapore responded in this way to a stinging attack by Levin on its prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, laying out its correspondence with the paper and its then editor, Simon Jenkins, now an Evening Standard columnist.

But Levin was not one to back down from a row. When Lord Chief Justice Goddard died aged 94, Levin penned a strongly-worded attack on him that so infuriated the legal establishment he was blackballed from the Garrick Club.

His defence was as robust as the original article. "I wrote and published such sentiments and stronger ones too, while Goddard was alive and not merely while he was alive but while he was still Lord Chief Justice," he said.

Levin first made his name as parliamentary writer on The Spectator, then edited by Ian Gilmour, in the Fifties. Here he patented modern parliamentary sketch-writing as a form of comic theatre at a time when TV and newspapers were far more deferential to politicians than they are today. "His irreverent attitude to politicians, shown not least in his piquant nicknames for them (eg Bullingham-Manner for Manningham-Buller), was refreshing at a time when Parliament was, in general, taken too seriously," wrote Grigg.

"Now things have gone to the opposite extreme, with sketch-writing derivative from Levin's all the rage and hardly any straight reporting of Parliament." From the Spectator Levin moved to the Mail, where he became drama critic. Theatre remained a life-long passion. In one of his last regular columns Levin bemoaned the fall in audiences for London plays other than musicals and the great classics. He blamed the lack of good new playwrights or new works from established writers. The next morning the debate was taken up by theatre director Sir Peter Hall and the director of the Royal Court on Radio 4's Today programme.

Levin was brought up by his grandparents in Camden Town after his father abandoned his mother when he was three years old. He was educated at Christ's Hospital and the London School of Economics, where he read government, expecting to pursue a career in politics rather than reporting it.

Levin became famous for his long, sentences, full of clauses, subclauses, parentheses, semi-colons and diversions. He said it was the only style in which he knew how to write, but it left him open to frequent lampooning and accusations that he was a show-off. Even his fans sometimes bemoaned the lack of a firm editorial hand on Levin's prose to cut down on what one reviewer called his "bombast, burbling, almost meaningless orotundities".

Levin was the subject of gossip column speculation in the early Seventies when he began a five-year relationship with author Arianna Stassinopoulous, a former president of the Cambridge Union and now, as Arianna Huffington, a US Republican politician.

Levin was teased by friends that his infatuation with her led him to dabble in a cult movement called Insight, founded by John Roger, a Californian. When Levin attended a an Insight reception at the Café Royal one reporter pointed out that Jesus Christ had not charged £150 for an introductory course in love and awareness. Levin snapped back: "Jesus Christ did not have to hire the Café Royal." Levin never married or had children, but is survived by his partner Liz Anderson, who tended him during a long decline from Alzheimer's disease.