Provocative author Hitchens dies after 'bohemian and rackety life'

The British-born author and journalist Christopher Hitchens has died. He is best known for his provocative best-seller 'God is Not Great'.

The 62-year-old outspoken atheist had been undergoing chemotherapy after being diagnosed with cancer last year.

He died with friends at his bedside at the MD Anderson Cancer Centre, in Houston, Texas after a punishing battle with oesophageal cancer, the same disease that killed his father.

Graydon Carter, editor of Vanity Fair, where Mr Hitchens was a contributing editor, paid tribute on the magazine’s website.

“Christopher Hitchens was a wit, a charmer and a troublemaker, and to those who knew him well, he was a gift from, dare I say, God,” he wrote.

He said Mr Hitchens would be remembered for his "elevated but inclusive humour" and a "staggering, almost punishing memory that held up under the most liquid of late-night conditions".

He wrote: “And to all of us, his readers, Christopher Hitchens will be remembered for the millions of words he left behind. They are his legacy. And, God love him, it was his will.”

The English-American citizen, who is survived by his wife and three children, was born in Portsmouth in England – the son of a naval officer – and educated at private school and Oxford University.

A columnist and literary critic, he often appeared on talk shows and gave lectures.

The publication of 'God Is Not Great' in 2007 made him a major celebrity in his adopted homeland of the United States – he became a US citizen in 2007.

An outspoken atheist, he took on former prime minister Tony Blair in a televised debate last year in Toronto, Canada, linking God to a “celestial dictatorship, a kind of divine North Korea”.

His memoir 'Hitch-22' was published last year, the same year he was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer.

In an interview last November, he told the BBC the cancer had spread to his lymph nodes and was possibly brought on by his “bohemian and rackety life”.

Writing on Twitter, the Booker prize-winning author Salman Rushdie paid tribute to Mr Hitchens.

“Goodbye, my beloved friend,” he wrote. “A great voice falls silent. A great heart stops. Christopher Hitchens, April 13, 1949-December 15, 2011.”

Michael Shermer, the founding publisher of Skeptic magazine, wrote: “We shall miss you, your voice, your pen, & most of all your mind Christopher. The world is better because of you.”

American pastor Rick Warren, who delivered the invocation at President Barack Obama’s inauguration, wrote: “My friend Christopher Hitchens has died. I loved & prayed for him constantly & grieve his loss. He knows the Truth now.”