Shane MacGowan dies aged 65: The Pogues frontman's wildest or most revelatory quotes

Shane MacGowan, the The Pogues frontman and beloved Irish rock musician, died early this morning from an infection after a long period of ill health.

“Shane will always be the light that I hold before me and the measure of my dreams and the love of my life," wrote his wife, author Victoria Mary Clarke, on Instagram. "I am blessed beyond words to have met him and to have loved him and to have been so endlessly and unconditionally loved by him.”

Born in Kent in 1957 to two Irish immigrants, and raised in Tipperary until he was 6 years old, MacGowan won a scholarship to attend Westminster School, but was expelled in his second year after he was caught smoking weed.

An irascible hell-raiser, he joined English punk rock band The Nips in 1976, when he was in his early 20s, before going onto found