This year marks the 700th anniversary of the birth of John Wycliffe, the visionary behind the first English translation of the Bible.

Despite this, it has been revealed by Wycliffe Bible Translators that one in five people globally still lacks access to the Bible in their preferred language.

In an interview with Premier Christian News, James Poole, executive director of Wycliffe Bible Translators emphasised the importance of their work: "The thing you have to be careful with in Bible translations is it's the word of God. So you can't just have a sort of half-baked translation knocked out by a computer that might not be very good, as that can cause a lot of problems for a growing church."

He then went on to praise the progress made so far, saying: "We are currently at the point where 80 per cent of the world's population have the Bible in their language and 91 per cent have the New Testament, which we're really excited about - so much progress has been made in recent years."

In a separate statement, Poole noted: "700 years later, the passion for Wycliffe's vision of a world where everyone can know Jesus through the Bible continues to burn brightly."

Wycliffe, who was born in 1324 in Hipswell, Yorkshire, was a theologian, scholar, and reformer whose dedication to making scriptures accessible sparked significant religious and cultural shifts.

Despite facing severe opposition from the Church, Wycliffe's legacy as "the morning star of the reformation" profoundly influenced subsequent translations and reformers like Martin Luther.