English astronomer Fred Hoyle dies

Fred Hoyle, the English astronomer credited with coining the phrase "Big Bang" to describe the creation of the cosmos, has died at 86.

Hoyle, a Cambridge academic and science fiction writer, objected to many conventional cosmological theories and became known as a populariser of science.

He challenged the belief that a huge explosion 12 billion years ago caused the cosmos, ironically giving the theory a name which would last, the "Big Bang".

Hoyle advocated the "steady state" theory that the cosmos had no beginning but that new galaxies were formed as others moved apart.