Brian Behan would have been delighted but not surprised at the amount of space his death commanded, not only in The Argus, but also in a number of national newspapers.

An incorrigible self publicist, his only disappointment would have been he did not orchestrate the obituaries himself.

It helped his name was Behan and that he was one of the last survivors of the rumbustious Irish family. Although Brendan, by far the best known of the brothers, became famous in the end more for his legendary drinking capacity than for his writing, he was truly talented and his best work is still well known today.

Brian made the most of his name and Mother of All The Behans, published in 1984, was probably his most successful book and play. Other work also mentioned the family and Brian stoked the flames of publicity by mentioning the rivalry between him and the third literary brother, Dominic.

It was easy in later years to categorise Brian as a clown but he was always courageous.

His work as a trades unionist in the Fifties on two big building sites in London landed him briefly in jail but by then he had decided he had more talent for weaving words than for hod carrying.

Behan also joined the Communist Party which, in the Fifties, commanded astonishing respect in some circles although it had been clear years before to perceptive observers such as Malcolm Muggeridge and George Orwell that Communism in the Soviet Union and China was brutal and repressive.

There was no way in which a rumbustious character like Brian Behan would be in sympathy with post-war Russia and so it proved when he paid a visit.

Like thousands of other principled people, he left the party after the Hungarian uprising in 1956 but made the mistake of joining the Socialist Labour League.

This small and ludicrous Trotskyite group was run by another Irishman called Gerry Healey whom Behan later described as "bald with the little sore eyes of a new born pig." He was expelled for deviation despite being secretary and after that roamed free on the Left of politics, no party being broad enough to hold such an unpredictable character.

It was also brave of Behan to become a mature student at Sussex University which enabled him to produce much of his best literature. He lived on one of the houseboats in Shoreham.

You could never quite tell where reality ended and fantasy began with Brian Behan. He told a reporter on The Argus, who was writing a profile on him, that he was a bachelor when that was far from the case (he had two wives and produced five children) and this was probably done purely out of mischief.

Brian would say such outrageous things about the political establishment that you could not be absolutely sure if he believed them but if challenged, he would launch into a tirade of lavish and effective abuse.

He was forever forming organisations including the Anti-Marriage Society, the Grey Power Party to fight for the rights of pensioners, and a campaign for more loos in Brighton which he wanted to call The Place to Wee.

Most of all he was known as an all-the-year-round swimmer, darting in and out of the sea, often wearing no clothes.

The funeral will be tomorrow at Woodvale in Brighton at 1.45pm but the best way to remember this odd man of many causes would be with a mass nude dip off his favourite Albion beach, preferably with a few arrests.