The life of Alexander Solzhenitsyn

1945 - 1950: Alexander Solzhenitsyn during the gulag years Photograph: CSU Archives/Everett Collection/Rex Features

1965: A portrait of Solzhenitsyn Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty

1974: Solzhenitsyn receives his Nobel prize for literature, awarded in 1970, after his exile from the Soviet Union Photograph: Sipa Press/Rex Features

1975: Solzhenitsyn plays tennis at Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont, USA Photograph: AP

1983: Margaret Thatcher and Solzhenitsyn at No 10 Downing Street Photograph: PA

1983: Solzhenitsyn and his wife Natalia leaving Heathrow for New York Photograph: PA

1989: Solzhenitsyn sitting outside his home Photograph: Steve Liss/Time Life Pictures/Getty

1994: Solzhenitsyn with his wife Natalia and sons Stephan and Yermolai Photograph: Sipa Press/Rex Features

1994: Solzhenitsyn in central Siberia Photograph: Sipa Press/Rex Features

1994: Solzhenitsyn speaks in the Duma, the Russian parliament's lower chamber, in Moscow Photograph: Sergei Karpukhin/AP

1994: Solzhenitsyn visits Khabarovsk Photograph: Sipa Press/Rex Features

1998: Spectators applaud Solzhenitsyn at the Theatre Na Taganke, at a celebration for his 80th birthday Photograph: Alexander Nemenov/AFP

2007: Vladimir Putin visits Solzhenitsyn at his home in Troitse-Lykovo, outside Moscow Photograph: Mickail Klimentiev/AFP