Christopher Hitchens 1949 - 2011

Let us be profoundly glad that Christopher Hitchens lived. We should cherish the memory of his words, wit and character.

Let us hope that everyone will rekindle his appreciation for the gift of life and the gift of other people. Let us honour the life of Christopher Hitchens by living more nobly, thinking and reasoning for ourselves, putting away supersition and religious mythology and loving life in the days ahead.

Let us be honest with death. Let us not pretend that it is less than it is. It is separation. It is sorrow. It is grief. But let us neither pretend that death is more than it is. As long as we have our memory and as long as his writing and online videos endure, his influence will be felt.

Christopher Hitchens, we salute you. You educated us, made us think and laugh.

Thank you for helping us have a better outlook on life's realities and the beauty of life. Thank you for helping us live a better life.

We will always be thankful for reading your work and watching you speak through videos online.

"Take the risk of thinking for yourself, much more happiness, truth, beauty, and wisdom will come to you that way." - Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens has passed away at the age of 62.

The journalist and author's death was confirmed by Vanity Fair, where he had been a contributing editor for 19 years.

Hitchens died in the company of his friends at the MD Anderson Cancer Centre in Houston, Texas on Thursday night (December 15). He passed away as a result of pneumonia, a complication of oesophagal cancer.

He was diagnosed last year, shortly after the publication of his autobiography Hitch-22.

"At the end, Hitchens was more engaged, relentless, hilarious, observant, and intelligent than just about everyone else - just as he had been for the last four decades... May his 62 years of living, well, so livingly console the many of us who will miss him dearly," the magazine's tribute read.

Born in Portsmouth in April 1949, Hitchens studied at Balliol College, Oxford, reading politics, philosophy and economics.

He worked for The Times higher education supplement and The New Statesman during his early career, and it was at the latter that he first rose to prominence as a controversial and colourful commentator.

Hitchens emigrated to the US in 1981, writing for The Nation for over twenty years. He joined Vanity Fair in 1992 and also wrote for publications including Slate magazine and literary journal The Atlantic on a regular basis. His work took him to over 60 countries.

He is survived by his wife Carol Blue, his younger brother Peter Hitchens, a Mail on Sunday columnist, and three children - Alexander and Sophia from his first marriage to Eleni Meleagrou, and Antonia from his marriage to Blue.

R.I.P.