Icon of a bloodless revolution dies at 75

VACLAV HAVEL, the dissident playwright who was jailed by Czechoslovakia’s communist government and then went on to lead the “Velvet Revolution” and become Czech president, died at 75 yesterday.

The former chain smoker, who survived several operations for lung cancer and a burst intestine in the late 1990s that left him frail for the rest of his life, died after a long illness.

Havel was with his wife Dagmar and a nun who had been caring for him when he died at his country home, north of Prague.