In a writing career spanning five decades, RS Thomas wrote over twenty volumes of poetry, was nominated for a Nobel Prize, and among many literary acolades was awarded the Queen's Medal for Poetry.
Equally prolific as a campaigner, he was a fervent Welsh patriot and spoke out on issues such as holiday homes, the Welsh language and nuclear disarmnament.
Born in Cardiff, Ronald Stuart Thomas graduated from Bangor University and received theological training in Llandaff before being ordained as a priest in 1936. His writing career began in the Second World War during his time as a rector in Powys, and he took it upon himself to learn Welsh.
Though his poetry would mainly be written in English, he also produced Welsh verse, and became a passionate voice supporting the language.
In 1978, RS Thomas retired to live in the Llyn Peninsula in north Wales. But his popularity continued with collected editions of his work, and his profile remained as prominent as ever due to his outspoken republican views.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he attracted controversy when he went on record to support the arsonists who firebombed English-owned holiday homes in Wales, claiming that English speakers were destroying the Welsh language and culture.
RS Thomas died in 2000, but his legacy lives on, helped by the study centre which bears his name at Bangor University.
One of Wales's finest poets, with a career spanning fifty years.
