Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton dies, aged 106

Sir Nicholas Winton, who organised the rescue of 669 children destined for Nazi concentration camps, has died aged 106.

Sir Nicholas, then a stockbroker, arranged for trains to carry Jewish children out of occupied Prague.

The reluctant hero worked to find British families willing to put up £50 to look after the boys and girls in their homes.

Sir Nicholas was knighted by the Queen in March 2003. His work has been likened to that of the "saviour" of Jewish prisoners Oskar Schindler, however it was a comparison he was not particularly fond of.

He died on the anniversary of the departure of a train in 1939 carrying the largest number of children - 241.

His son-in-law Stephen Watson said he died peacefully in his sleep at Wexham Hospital, Slough.

Sir Nicholas brought the children to Britain, battling bureaucracy at both ends, saving them from almost certain death, and then kept quiet about his exploits for a half-century.

He organised a total of eight trains from Prague, with some other forms of transport also set up from Vienna.