GERALD Turner spent so long in hospital, he always said when his time came he wanted to die at home.

And that's exactly what's happened for the former star of radio soap The Archers, ex-chairman of Worcester City Football Club, Crufts winner, raconteur, story-teller and survivor. Mr Turner, who in 84 years on this earth, overcame 15 hip operations, two bouts of MRSA and a case of Chlostridum difficile (C-difficile), took his final bow at his home at Hallow, near Worcester.

His partner of ten years, Glenys Finch explained: "That's what Gerald always wanted. He reckoned he'd had so many stays in hospital he didn't want to die there because he never let his ill-health get him down. He was a real fighter. He never gave up performing even on holidays, giving monologues at every opportunity in the hotels we stayed and on a cruise ship.

"He has continued giving his talks called An Actor's Life for Me at local clubs and societies while sat in his wheelchair, donating monies to Macmillan Nurses. It really gave him a buzz to perform." In a well documented episode, Mr Turner even went back to university at the age of 76 to take a degree in drama and health studies.

Born in Worcester, he attended St George's primary school, Samuel Southall Secondary and then Worcester Royal Grammar School before taking up acting. He played Gregory Salt in The Archers for 12 years, had roles in more than 100 screenplays and also appeared in the television classic Crossroads. He was

chairman of Worcester City Football Club between 1984 and 1989 and for 20 years ran a pet food business called Severn Shire Pet Foods with a pet shop The Dog House in Rainbow Hill, Worcester. At Crufts in 1972, Mr Turner won two first prizes and a second with his Shetland Sheepdog Raindrop.

In a 2007 interview about his decision to fight his health problems and go to university in his mid-70s, Mr Turner said: "It keeps me alive meeting all these young people. They show me things that are modern and I'm able to show what it's like on stage. I'm also hoping to go back and take my masters in the future." Sadly he never made it, but at least the curtain came down on the actor's life exactly where he wanted.

Gerald Turner's funeral will be on Wednesday, June 10 at St Stephen's Church, Worcester at 2.15pm.