Eric Hobsbawm dies aged 95
2nd October 2012 - 10:10am
The acclaimed historian Eric Hobsbawm, who wrote History of the 20th Century and The Age of Extremes, among 30 other titles, has died at the age of 95.
His daughter Julia said he died in the early hours of Monday morning at the Royal Free Hospital in London, where he had been suffering from pneumonia.
A Marxist historian, Hobsbawm wrote more than 30 books and is primarily known for his three-volume series on the 'long 19th century' as well as a bestselling memoir, Interesting Times.
In a statement, his family said: 'He will be greatly missed not only by his wife of 50 years, Marlene, and his three children, seven grandchildren and great grandchild, but also by his many thousands of readers and students around the world.'
Labour leader Ed Miliband led the tributes to Hobsbawm, describing him as an 'extraordinary historian, a man passionate about his politics and a great friend of his family'.
'His historical works brought hundreds of years of British history to hundreds of thousands of people. He brought history out of the ivory tower and into people's lives,' he said.
Hobsbawm's final book, How to Change the World, was published in 2011.