Former bishop dies

Bishop Kenneth will be buried at Lichfield Cathedral

The former Bishop of Lichfield, the Rt Rev Kenneth Skelton, has died at the age of 85 after suffering a stroke.

Bishop Kenneth took up the post in 1975 and retired nine years later.

He was regarded as a man unafraid to tackle contentious issues.

In the '60s, as Bishop of Matabeleland, in what was then Rhodesia, he was an outspoken defender of black Africans, despite pressure from the country's white supremacist regime.

As Bishop of Lichfield, he headed a controversial Church of England commission on marriage.

It included an investigation into the problematic issue of whether people who have divorced should be allowed to remarry in church.

He died on Thursday at the Royal Surrey Hospital in Guildford, where he had remained since a recent stroke.

Funeral details have yet to be confirmed, but Bishop Kenneth will be buried at Lichfield Cathedral next to his wife, Phyllis, who died last year.