Timothy John Byford passes away

Timothy John Byford passes away

Byford will be remembered as the author of some of Serbian television's best programming for children, including TV series Neven and Poletarac.

He was the winner of the Charter of the Zmaj Children's Games (Zmajeve Dečije Igre) festival in 2011.

Byford was born in Salisbury in 1941 and began his career working for BBC's children's programs.

In 1969, he received a BAFTA award for the documentary "I Want to Be a Showjumper". Two years later he moved to what was then Yugoslavia, where he married. He remained in Serbia until his death.

For almost 40 years, Byford lived in the country a foreign national with temporary residence, and only became a citizen at the age of 65, at the intervention of then President Boris Tadić. After facing many problems, in early 2013, he received a state pension.

Byford for years struggled with a serious illness. He was again in the focus of public attention last year, due to the shortage of a drug necessary for his treatment. He made an appeal through social networks and said he would "die of bureaucracy, not of cancer."

"I did that to draw the attention to the general situation, not for my own sake. There are people who are much more ill," Byford told B92 at the time.