The Right Rev Timothy Dudley-Smith obituary

Timothy Dudley-Smith, right, with the Rev Charles Robertson and the church’s revised hymnal, launched in 2000. Photograph: Richard Watt/AP

For a man who claimed to be unable to sing or write music, Timothy Dudley-Smith, the former suffragan bishop of Thetford, who has died aged 97, has left a considerable legacy to Anglican churches in more than 450 hymns, composed over more than 60 years.

Not all of those in the pews may recognise his name – compared, say, to Charles Wesley, the 18th-century divine who bequeathed more than 4,000 – but they will certainly have sung his words.