Sir Nicholas Winton: 'British Schindler' who saved lives of 669 Jewish children dies aged 106

Sir Nicholas Winton, the "British Schindler" who saved more than 650 Jewish children from the Holocaust, has died aged 106.

Winton was responsible for organising eight trains full of children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia to London in 1939.

He worked in Prague helping to prepare children for evacuation to Britain before going back to London to arrange their resettlement.

Despite saving the lives of 669 children, his achievements were not recognised for 60 years, until he appeared on the BBC One programme That's Life in 1988.

His son-in-law Stephen Watson said he died peacefully at hospital in Wexham, Slough, with his daughter Barbara and two grandchildren at his side.

His death came on the anniversary of the train which carried the largest number of children setting off from Prague – 241.

He received a knighthood from the Queen in 2003 for his services to humanity. A film about his accomplishments, Nicholas Winton – The Power of Good, won an International Emmy Award in 2002.

He was also honoured by the Czech Republic for his work as recently as last year. A statue of Winton stands at Prague's central train station.

Winton rejected the description of himself as a hero as he believed his life was never in danger. He was always modest about his achievements, and his reasons for acting.

"At the time, everybody said, 'Isn't it wonderful what you've done for the Jews? You saved all these Jewish people,'" the Associated Press reports him saying

"When it was first said to me, it came almost as a revelation because I didn't do it particularly for that reason. I was there to save children."