Obituary: Lieutenant-General Sir Chandos Blair, 91

Lieutenant-General Sir Chandos Blair, the first British soldier to return after escaping a PoW camp, has died, aged 91.

Born in Edinburgh in 1919, Sir Chandos was educated at Harrow and Sandhurst. He joined the Seaforth Highlanders in 1939 and the following year joined the 2nd Battalion, Seaforths.

He was taken prisoner when the 51st (Highland) Division surrendered to Rommel in northern France. After being imprisoned at Oflag VIIC in Bavaria, he slipped away from a working party in 1941 and successfully returned to the UK in January 1942.

He was then posted to Scotland, where he was a training camp instructor, but soon returned to the 7th battalion, Seaforth Highlanders, who saw action in the 1944 Normandy invasion.

He served as the General Officer Commanding Scotland from 1972-76 and was a proud upholder of the traditions as Governor of Edinburgh Castle.

In his final year as GOC Scotland, Sir Chandos was sent to Uganda by then Prime Minister Harold Wilson. A British teacher at a Ugandan university had written a book critical of Idi Amin and in an effort to save the teacher, Sir Chandos carried a personal letter from the Queen. The teacher was eventually released.

He was made a KCVO in 1972 and served as Colonel of the Queen's Own Highlanders from 1975-83.

"Chan never blew his own trumpet," Col Alastair Cumming recalls. "He greatly enjoyed the responsibilities at Edinburgh Castle and fought to maintain it as a military base. Chan, a brave and always kind soldier."

Sir Chandos married Francis Guy Travers in 1947. She predeceased him and he is survived by their son and daughter.

Tributes have been paid to the Right Reverend Kenneth Stevenson, the East Lothian-born Bishop of Portsmouth, after he passed away, aged 61.

Born in Aberlady, East Lothian, in November 1949, Rt Rev Stevenson came from a distinguished ecclesiastical family. His father, who had been an architect in Edinburgh, took Holy Orders with the Episcopal church and his mother's father was a bishop in Denmark.

He attended Edinburgh Academy and gained a first-class MA at Edinburgh University. He trained for the priesthood at Salisbury Theological College and was ordained in Lincoln Cathedral in 1973.

For six years, he served as a chaplain at Manchester University.

Rt Rev Stevenson, described as a "powerful theological scholar", was consecrated Bishop of Portsmouth in 1995.

Right Rev Stevenson was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2005 and his subsequent treatment had a profound effect on his faith, those close to him said.

He lost his fight on January 11, in Southampton.

He married Sarah Glover in 1970 and she, their son and three daughters survive him.