British actor Richard Briers, famed for his role in television comedy The Good Life and a stalwart in the films of Kenneth Branagh, has died at the age of 79, his agent said on Monday.
Briers had been battling the serious lung condition emphysema after years of smoking and died “peacefully” at his home in London on Sunday, the agent said.
The actor began his career in the theatre but won national fame in Britain in the 1970s for his role as Tom Good in The Good Life, a man who gives up his job at a plastics company to try his hand at self-sufficiency with his long-suffering wife Barbara, played by Felicity Kendal. The show also aired in the United States where it was retitled Good Neighbours. Briers went on to star in the popular British sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles.
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Titanic band’s Violin to be auctioned
London: The violin believed to have belonged to Wallace Hartley — the heroic band master who played as the iconic ship Titanic sank — is expected to fetch a record price as it goes under the hammer here. The violin, if proven authentic, will have incredibly survived the tragedy in which more than 1500 people lost their lives in the Atlantic ocean on April 15, 1912.
Extensive scientific tests are underway to prove the violin’s authenticity, however, experts believe it to be genuine, the Daily Mail reported.
The violin is expected to fetch hundreds of thousands of pounds on April 20 when it is up or the auction by Titanic experts Henry Aldridge and Son based in Devizes, Wiltshire.
It has passed all other tests over the last seven years and the results of the last investigation are due early next month. — PTI