Family pays tribute to actor who was ‘bright, sparky, witty presence on stage and screen’ The Shirley Valentine actor Pauline Collins has died aged 85, her family have announced. She died peacefully, and surrounded by her family, in her care home in Highgate, north London, having had Parkinson’s disease for several years, they said. Continue reading...

The last person who transcends the sport could make more headlines at the Breeders’ Cup It has been a giddy, glorious and occasionally bumpy ride, but this time, it seems, Frankie Dettori’s mind is made up. The most storied jockey of the last 40 years will effectively head into retirement after the main card at the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar on Saturday, when he will have three chances to add a farewell Grade One winner to nearly 300 on his record already. Racing may not see a career quite like it again. Alongside Lester Piggott and perhaps John McCririck over the past half-century, “Frankie” registers with pretty much everyone, no surname required. People know who he is, even if they have no interest at all in what he does. In a world that has been fragmented by social media and the internet, Dettori may well be the last racing figure who will ever enjoy such instant name-recognition across a broad swathe of the British population. Continue reading...