Leading Article: Fond farewell

This has been a very sad week at The Independent. The death of Miles Kington on Wednesday robbed us of a uniquely entertaining voice, which went back almost to the paper's birth in 1986.

Miles wrote from his home in the West Country and rarely came in to the office. It was this that enabled him to keep colleagues in London in ignorance of his final illness, and there was no way of knowing from his copy. His extraordinarily high standards never wavered. That he wrote to the end – his last piece appeared on the day he died – was testimony to both his professionalism and his gift for making light of things.

With the death of Jeremy Beadle on Monday we lost another cherished contributor. His intriguing quizzes have been a highlight of our Saturday magazine.

We thank all our readers who have sent in their condolences. We will miss Miles and Jeremy, too.