End of Pan Era

The last surviving fan of Cliff Richard has died peacefully in a nursing home in Diss, Norfolk, aged 108.

Widow Ethel Lynch had been an admirer of Sir Cliff since the late 1950s, delighting in such hits as Summer Holiday and Big Ten, and for the last 18 months had been the singers only living fan.

Sir Cliff: Fan dead

The Eternal Peter Pan of Pop was told of the news on Christmas Morning, and spoke personally to Mrs Lynch's family on the telephone, via his agent.

End

It brings to an end one of the longest careers in the music industry, spanning more than six decades and thirty years, but by his own admission, Richard (real name Steve Perry) cannot carry on forever.

'I always said that I'd continue to make music as long as my fans were out there to listen to it' said the Millionaire Songbiry, 'but now it's time for me to retire gracefully to the country. By which I mean Sri Lanka.'

Sir Cliff last topped the charts in 1999 with 'The Millennium Prayer' - of which all but seven copies were bought by his best friend, sexy Tennis Stunner Sue Barker and given back to him as an 83rd birthday present.

Staff at the Vale of Shadows Nursing Home have announced plans to open an Ethel Lynch wing, funded largely by her generous legacy, and have invited Cliff to stay there free of charge any time he likes.