Controversial journalist Rod Liddle, who called Roy Keane a 'thug', dies aged 66

Rod Liddle also presented a programme about infidelity, arguing that men are genetically pre-programmed to be unfaithful. File picture: Yui Mok/PA

Journalist and broadcaster Rod Liddle, who inadvertently gained infamy in Ireland due to a deeply personal attack from football commentator Eamon Dunphy, has died after a short illness at the age of 66.

Mr Liddle was a high-profile columnist on The Sunday Times and The Sun, and had a weekly column in The Spectator, as well as a Times Radio show. He died at The James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough on Sunday evening.

A former editor of BBC Radio 4’s flagship Today programme, Mr Liddle was no stranger to controversy over the course of his career and was the first journalist to have an online blog censured by the press watchdog.

In 2010, a complaint was upheld by the Press Complaints Commission after the writer and columnist claimed on the Spectator website that the “overwhelming majority” of violent crime in London was carried out by young Afro-Caribbean men.

It was while he was editor of Today that Liddle hired Andrew Gilligan, the BBC journalist whose 2003 report claimed the UK government “sexed up” its dossier on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.

Mr Liddle left the BBC before Gilligan’s controversial report was broadcast.

He also made headlines for his colourful private life, when he left his partner of 11 years, Rachel Royce, with whom he had two children, for his 23-year-old mistress.

The estranged couple waged a public war of words over his affair with Alicia Munckton, a former receptionist at the Spectator magazine.

Mr Liddle went on to present a programme about infidelity, arguing that men are genetically pre-programmed to be unfaithful.

Known for his controversial views, Liddle sparked multiple accusations of misogyny and racism with his columns in The Spectator.

In response to Mr Liddle calling Roy Keane a "thug", Eamon Dunphy shocked RTÉ Sport host Bill O'Herlihy by accusing the British journalist of "running away and leaving his wife for a young one" live on air in 2005.