News about Leslie Phillips

Even decades after BBC producer Bill Wright was released from a prisoner-of-war camp, the nightmares were still the same. He was always seated, a brilliant light blazing in his face, unable to see his interrogator in the darkness beyond, in these slumbering dreams. He answered every question in the same tenacious and brave way, offering no details other than his name, rank, and serial number to the Nazi underground police: No. 1383566.' Wright converted a tragic childhood into the basis of what is arguably the most iconic quiz show in British television history. The terrifying chair, the brilliant light, and mercilessly questioning are all a part of Mastermind's show, the terrifying chair.

Leslie Phillips: CHRISTOPHER STEVENS: Leslie Phillips was the first woman to utterly believe in wolf whistles. He could convey surprise, admiration, flirtation, and even a hint of sexual danger with just a long-drawning 'Hel-lo'. Critics called it fruity, but it wasn't really fruity - cherries soaked in brandy, perhaps. It was the voice of a man who was used to getting slapped in the face in the search of a little slap-and-tickle. All he'd said was 'Ding-dong!' He'd said, 'Good Morning!' His dish, which was best encapsulated by 'Ding-dong!' Another of his suggestive catch-ups may have been unable to integrate into today's tighter MeToo mores. He came to fame as an actor in Carry On films, but to a new generation, he was the voice of the Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter series, delighting children and adults alike, although the latter in a more knowing manner. Phillips, who died yesterday aged 98, suffered with much more struggle and emotional turmoil than any film enthusiast could guess from his insouciant style. The airy flamboyance decipherd a life beset by tragedies, including the death of his first wife in a house fire and his second suicide when she was dying from bowel cancer.

Moving away from the big screen, the actor, who died on Monday, suffered a string of tragic events in his life, including the deaths of two of his wives and fighting shell shock when fighting in the Second World War. Penny Bartley, his first wife (left on their wedding day in 1948), was killed in a house fire in 1981. Even after their divorce in 1965, he kept in touch with her, describing her divorce as one of his life's biggest disappointments. Then in 2011, Angela Scoular, a former Bond girl, was shocked by his second wife's suicide (together right). She was suffering from bowel cancer and depression and took her own life. Phillips was too ill to attend the inquest into Scoular's death three months later. Zara Carr, a Turkish social worker who married in front of two witnesses in Mayfair, central London in 2013, finds love with him again (centre). Phillips joked that his new wife used the same name as the Queen's granddaughter, Zara Phillips. His acting career stretches back to 1938 in a career that spanned more than 70 years. Despite the fact that he appeared in only three of them, he was best known in the United Kingdom for his Carry on parts. After appearing in hits including voicing the Sorting Hat in Harry Potter (inset) and appearing in hit films including Empire of the Sun, The Jackal, Out of Africa, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Venus with Peter O'Toole, Phillips also enjoyed an international audience. His Hollywood fame – and the fortunes it brought – was a far cry from his humble roots in Tottenham, north London, where his life was changed by a gift for acting and elocution lessons that helped him win the parts that made him famous.

Leslie Phillips, the 98-year-old Carry On actress who brought laughter to front rooms around the country, has died at the age of 98.

DAVID LLOYD: The word Bazball is a Brendon McCullum, and before this series, it seemed that Dean Elgar wasn't keen on it either. Well, England will be unstuck playing this brand of cricket, as we saw on Wednesday, but monumental blocking won't get you very far. England's tactics will work more often than not...

Keith Waterhouse, columnist, author, playwright, and late of this parish, is best known for his insightful Billy Liar, Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell's, and his twice-weekly reflections on the madness of modern life. Office Life, a satire on the state of Britain in the 1970s, was published in 1978 by Keith. It was based on a fictional company where everyone seems to be busy doing nothing. A newly hired employee sets out to find out what the company really does, while the staff are in endless meetings, not answering phones, going for lunch, organizing whip-rounds, and other such things. The answer, it turns out, is, er, absolutely bugger all. British Albion Ltd's entire purpose is to keep people employed. Keith's book was released in the Seventies as a sharp reminder of a nation in terminal decline. Today, it could be a model for just about every aspect of government endeavour. Never heard of Human Resources, diversity leaders, or wellness coordinators, let alone Working From Home. But if he'd been writing Office Life now, the book would have been brimming with them.