John Hurt, John Hurt, John Hurt.

What a shame. What a wonderful man. John Hurt has always been there, in the background - consistently bloody good. A perfect antidote to shallow film star action styles - never the bland, toothsome muscle freaks - just someone you believed in every time. My favourite John Hurt anecdote - that after the first broadcast of The Naked Civil Servant - no London taxi driver would take his money, so he rode everywhere for free. The general theme of all the tributes and obituaries today? What a bloody nice man he was.