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Atheist Writer Richard Dawkins Has Stroke

Atheist Writer Richard Dawkins Has Stroke

Outspoken academic Richard Dawkins has pulled out of a public speaking tour after suffering a stroke.

The 74-year-old was taken ill on Saturday, three weeks before he was due to begin a tour of Australia and New Zealand.

He is expected to make a full recovery, according to a statement on the Sydney Opera House website.

The biologist and author of The God Delusion had been due to appear at the venue on 28 February.

The statement said: "On Saturday night Richard suffered a minor stroke, however he is expected in time to make a full or near full recovery.

"He is already at home recuperating.

"This unfortunately means Richard will be unable to make his planned Australian and New Zealand tour.

"He is very disappointed that he is unable to do so but looks forward to renewing his plans in the not too distant future."

It appeared on Thursday that he had recovered enough to use Twitter, where he plugged a book called God: The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction, for which he had written the foreword.

The events in Australia and New Zealand were focused around his recently published second memoir and 13th book, Brief Candle In The Dark.

His first book, The Selfish Gene, sold more than one million copies since being published in 1976.

The God Delusion has sold more than three million copies.

Dawkins has regularly been named one of Britain's top intellectuals.