Dr Ian Paisley: The Baptist minister, militant and peacemaker
Dr Ian Paisley was a fiery and uncompromising Ulster politician throughout the Troubles who later in life underwent a dramatic transformation.
One of the most turbulent figures in Northern Ireland politics once declared "No surrender" to Republican views.
ITV News Correspondent Nina Nannar reports:
However, later in life he suddenly agreed to share power in a Northern Ireland Assembly with his arch enemies in Sinn Fein and share power alongside former IRA commander Martin McGuinness.
In 2007, with then-Prime Minister Tony Blair to one side of him and Mr McGuinness to the other, Paisley said:
He had earlier said that Sinn Fein would govern Northern Ireland "over my dead body".
Seeing Dr Paisley and President of Sinn Fein Gerry Adams sitting round the same table would have been unthinkable at one point.
The Ulster politician said that while no one should forget the past, it should not be allowed to blight future generations.
Ian Richard Kyle Paisley was born on April 6, 1926, the son of a Baptist minister. He gave his first sermon aged 16.
He was ordained in 1946 and by the early 1960s, Dr Paisley had become a colossus in Northern Ireland politics.
One of his first actions was to protest over the lowering of the Union flag following the death of the Pope. He forged links with Christian fundamentalists all over the world - particularly in the US.
Dr Paisley fought a long-running and bitter feud with the Ulster Unionists, denouncing every leader as either a traitor or Judas who was determined to sell Northern Ireland to a united Ireland.
From 1970-72, Dr Paisley sat in the Northern Ireland Parliament and earned himself the reputation of a man who would not compromise.
Dr Paisley always condemned violence, both Republican and Loyalist, but he was known to get involved with some unsavory elements himself.
In 1981, he appeared on a hillside at dead of night with 500 men brandishing firearms licences and had a dalliance with the paramilitary group the Ulster Resistance.
Dr Paisley found fault with every new initiative from the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985 to the Good Friday Agreement.
He would not sit down with Republicans to thrash out political initiatives and once said: "I am not going to sit down with bloodthirsty monsters who have been killing and terrifying my people."
In 1999, he caused outrage by using parliamentary privilege to name people he claimed were behind a massacre in Northern Ireland 23 years earlier.
Dr Paisley became the leader of Northern Ireland's largest party in Westminster in 2005 after the General Election.
He seemed to mellow but there was still no hint of compromise.
Then, in the most spectacular u-turn in Northern Irish politics, he struck a ground-breaking deal with Sinn Fein.
The power-sharing deal caused a number of resignations from his Democratic Unionist Party and in 2010 he confirmed he would not contest the General Election, marking the end of his Westminster career.
He is survived by his wife Eileen, whom he married in 1956. They have two sons - Ian Jnr holds his father's former Westminster seat, while Kyle is a minister in his father's church - and three daughters, Rhonda, Sharon and Cherith.