Martin McGuinness, the former Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, has died. He was 66.

In over forty years in politics he went from being an IRA commander to being leader of a peaceful power-sharing government.

More than any other, the life of Martin McGuinness tells the story of Northern Ireland's troubled journey to peace.

In his early 20s he joined the Provisional IRA and quickly rose through its ranks, becoming second-in-command in his native Derry by the time of Bloody Sunday, when he was just 21.

Shortly afterwards he was jailed for possession of explosives and for IRA membership by the Special Criminal Court, south of the border.

On his release, while insisting he had left the IRA - a claim disputed by many others - he became more prominent in Sinn Féin, and a serious figure around the negotiating table.

During the 1981 hunger strikes he maintained back channels to British intelligence - and by the time of the talks that led to the Good Friday Agreement and power sharing in the North, the former IRA Commander was now leading the charge for peace.

He became the North's first education minister and in 2007, Deputy First Minister outright - eventually sharing power with the Unionist firebrand Ian Paisley.

Before that election the two men had barely spoken - in the year that followed, they became so close and friendly they were known as 'the Chuckle brothers'.

He did not share the same rapport with Paisley's successors, but remained a stabilising presence during the tenures of Peter Robinson and Arlene Foster.

But the latter's position was marred by the 'cash for ash' row, causing McGuinness to collapse the government just two months ago - and then retire from politics with a rare condition called amyloidosis.

A former IRA commander who later ran for President, shook hands with Queen Elizabeth, and brought his party into peace. Martin McGuinness certainly made his mark.