Lieut Colonel George Styles: Lieut Col George Styles was a leading British army bomb-disposal officer who had many successes when he tackled some of the IRA's most sophisticated explosive devices during his posting to Northern Ireland in the early 1970s.
Styles fought a very personal battle with IRA bomb-makers in Northern Ireland in the early days of the violence. Unlike many of his ilk, he died of natural causes, aged 78.
He was awarded the George Cross in 1971 - the highest peacetime decoration for courage - in recognition of his bravery in personally defusing many bombs especially stopping IRA bombers blasting the landmark Europa Hotel apart twice within two days.
He went a long way to mastering a way of defusing home-made IRA bombs - officially known as improvised explosive devices. The IEDs were designed to blow up the officer trying to make them safe and whatever building they were planted in.
Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey said: "During the darkest days of the Troubles - together with other members of the bomb-disposal squad - he placed himself in harm's way in order to protect our community.
"His actions stand in stark contrast to that of the terrorists. Whereas the terrorists sought to murder and maim, George Styles protected life."
As Maj George Styles, he arrived in Northern Ireland in 1969 as the senior ammunition technical officer in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps which was responsible for defusing the increasing number of IRA bombs planted at the start of the terrorist campaign.
He ordered a mock-up bomb to be made identical to those of the IRA - except that it switched on a light rather than detonating.
In a book on his time in Northern Ireland - Bombs Have No Pity - he recounted how he sat at his kitchen table with the mock-up and worked on it until the bulb lit up. After hours and hours of trial and error he believed he had found a way to defuse such devices. That belief was put to the test when he was called to the 12-storey Europa Hotel in central Belfast on October 20th, 1971, to tackle a bomb left in a phone box in the foyer.
The bomb contained more than 10lb of explosive and Styles knew the slightest false move might detonate it. He disarmed it in stages and, over seven hours, carefully tied a line around the device and pulled it slowly from the hotel and on to the pavement.
At the end of his ordeal, he was convinced he knew the identity of the bomb-maker, that he would not take the defeat lying down and that he would try again.
Two days later, Styles was called back to the hotel to deal with another bomb - containing 40lb of explosives. An examination of the device showed it had the same circuitry, but with a mass of added wired and microswitches to try to confuse him and his team.
This time it took Styles and his team nine hours to make the bomb safe.
Inscribed in tiny letters inside the device was a message from the maker - "Tee-Hee, Hee-Hee, Ho-Ho, Ha-Ha" - but the bomb squad chief had the last laugh. He was alive and the device was rendered useless.
In the year after his two marathons in the hotel, bomb-disposal teams dismantled more than 1,000 bombs and blew up many more with controlled explosions.
Born in Sussex in 1928, he was educated at Horsham and began national service in 1946. After cadet training, he studied engineering and served in Malaya between 1949 and 1951. He served in Germany before moving to Northern Ireland. He left Northern Ireland in 1972, was promoted to lieutenant colonel and made responsible for British army bomb-disposal teams throughout the world.
He retired two years later and served on the boards of a number of companies advising on anti-terrorist measures. He also advised on a number of commercial demolitions requiring explosives.
He married Mary Woolgar in 1952; they had a son and two daughters.
Stephen George Styles: born March 16th, 1928; died August 1st, 2006