A star is shorn

So, farewell then, Peter O'Toole. No, he's not, thankfully, yet shuffled off this mortal coil but rather, on the cusp of his 80th birthday, just announced his retirement from acting.

Eight times Oscar-nominated and the winner of an Honorary statuette in 2003 for his body of work, Irish-born O'Toole has been a film star for more than 50 years when he made his first significant movie in 1958, The Day They Robbed The Bank of England.

But it was subsequent roles in bigger budget, much higher-profile titles like Lawrence of Arabia, Becket, Lord Jim, What's New Pussycat? The Lion in Winter and My Favourite Year that properly cemented his legacy.

"It's my belief," he said, bowing out of the Biz of Show, "that one should decide for oneself when it's time to end one's stay. It's time for me to chuck in the sponge. To retire from films and stage. The heart for it has gone out of me; it won't come back."

Instead, the cricket lover and one-time hellraiser will concentrate instead on the third volume of his memoirs.