Vaclav Havel, who became the first Czech president after leading the bloodless Velvet Revolution against communist rule, died yesterday aged 75.
The dissident playwright was instrumental in opening the door to democracy in Eastern Europe by loosening the Soviet grip.
Tributes flooded in from world leaders who hailed him as ‘the greatest European of our age’.
Havel was invited by Margaret Thatcher to 10 Downing Street during his first official visit to the UK after the collapse of communism in 1989.