biggins? well, i hold you responsible for biggins, james. the character mirrored his own personality, which was described today by his family today as a bit gruff, but also elegant and twinkly. and it was a role that needed a bit of grit. i remember a day when we did a lambing sequence all through the night, in the dead ice—cold of winter, deep snow and endless frost. our own agency — an international feature service. it pays well. in the ‘60s, he'd appeared opposite richard burton, his old friend from his days at oxford, in the spy who came in from the cold. often, i don't know who does publish, i confess. we few, we happy few! we band of brothers! his early career was rather shakespearean. he revelled in the grand patriotic speech and will forever be linked with one particular patriotic character. mr speaker, those germans are not looking for equal status!

churchill. they are looking for weapons! now, they will soon be looking for war. he played the role six times. we strongly suspect... and when the harry potter films needed a pompous ministerfor magic, it was a part that could have been written for robert hardy. you will escort dumbledore to azka ban. or am i talking the most absolute nonsense ? like siegfried, it was what he was best at — characters full of bluster and grand gestures that were trying desperately hard to hide the softer, more vulnerable person within. we have our differences, don't we? but we do understand each other, wouldn't you say? the actor robert hardy, who's died at the age of 91. that's it.

now on bbc one, it's time for the news where you are. hello and welcome to sportsday with me will perry, tonight's headlines: england's euro 2017 journey is over, beaten by the dutch on home soil in the semi—final. it's official, world record signing neymar is a ps6 player as he agrees a 5 year deal. and "we're sorry": russia apologises for the doping scandal which has soured the world of athletics. we start with the disappointing news for england's women at euro 2017, mark sampson's side have been knocked out of the tournament by the netherlands in the semifinal. the hosts 3—0 winners in enskaday which is where we can cross live to our reporter david ornstein. david, so much expectation on england tonight but convincingly beaten?

so much expectation not least of all from themselves. england came into this tournament expecting to win it, by the manager mark samson's own admission, they wanted to be the best tea m admission, they wanted to be the best team in europe and i want to be the best team in the world. through your mind back four years ago, 2013, england failed to even get out of the group. they shows how far they have come that in 2015 they reached the semifinals of the world cup, then in 2017 they have gone up against the hosts in the semifinal here. they did expect to win. england went behind in the first half, they then hit the post and had a penalty shout turned down, but just after half—time the second goal went in. no team has come back from 2-0 went in. no team has come back from 2—0 down in a women's euros semifinal to win, and with the last kick of the match, the third goal

went in. that was an own goal from milly bright, who has been so heroic for england during the tournament. 3-0, for england during the tournament. 3—0, england go out. they have made so 3—0, england go out. they have made so much 3—0, england go out. they have made so much progress 3—0, england go out. they have made so much progress over this tournament, they have come so far. it's made such a huge impact back home with television audiences, record for the women's game. it was not to be denied. that will be little consolation to them as they lick their wounds on a defeat they would not have expected. holland go on to reach the final against denmark, there were 30,000 fans on the ground behind us tonight. that was a record for women's football in the netherlands. it is they who go on to the final. disappointed for england, they will look to rebuild after what has been a very impressive campaign on the whole. it has made such an impact back home. thank you david. as david said, that means they will take on denmark in sunday's final at euro 2017.

after a goalless 120 minutes in breda, denmark beat austria on penalties to reach their first final. simone boya sorreson with the winning spot kick. this is the penalty that sealed it. that means denmark will be playing in sunday's final of course against the hosts, and the netherlands. elsewhere... it's a done deal! paris st—germain have finally completed the signing brazil forward neymar for a world record fee from barcelona on a five year contract. it smashes the fee that took paul pogba back to manchester united from juventus last year. neymar will earn just over a0 million pounds a year. our sports news correspondent rivhard conway is in paris. it has been the transfer saga of the summer. it is now officially at an end. neymar is a paris st germain player. what a pursuit it has been. this club has wanted neymar for a number of months, even a number of

yea rs. number of months, even a number of years. in the last few weeks they have really accelerated their chase. it required a world record sum of money. $260 million, 222 million euros, £200 million. it does not matter what currency you call it in, it isa matter what currency you call it in, it is a mega deal the likes of which have never been seen before. la liga, the spanish league officials did not want anything to do with this deal, telling neymar‘s lawyers they did not want their money, they would not take the release clause. instead they had to go to barcelona, pay them directly, that's cleared the obstacles in the road, and allowed neymar to become a paris st germain player. we will see him unveiled in due course, that is said to be some events, because psg are delighted they have finally got their man, they are ready to tell their man, they are ready to tell the world about it. one transfer that has been confirmed: leicester city have signed striker kelechi iheanacho from manchester city for a fee understood to be £25 million. it was a very disappointing night for aberdeen as they were knocked out of the europa league at the qualifying stage for the fourth successive season.

derek mcinnes' side took a 2—1 lead into the second leg against cypriot side apollon limassol but were beaten 2—0 to end their hopes of progressing. everton though, are through after they saw off slovakian side ruzomberok. a goal from dominic calvert—lewin was enough to give them a 2—0 aggregate win. russia has apologised over the doping scandal uncovered by the mclaren report for the first time, but will remain suspended from international athletics. athletics' governing body the iaaf banned russia in november 2015 over evidence of state—sponsored doping. the head of russia athletics dmitry shy—lak—tin says the ban dmitry shylaktin says the ban was "correct" and has said sorry to athletes beaten by dopers. 19 russians will be competing as neutral athletes at the world championships in london, which begin tomorrow. wladimir klitschko has announced he's retiring from boxing which means there'll be no rematch

with anthonyjoshua. we had been waiting for an update on another fight between the two in las vegas in november but the 41—year—old has decided to hang up his gloves after 27 years including holding the world heavyweight championship crown for over ten. he says "i have achieved everything i dreamed of, and now i want to start my second career after sport". it's been a strange summer for england and south africa in their test series. wild fluctuations of form have left the score 2—1 in england's favour with just the fourth test to come at old trafford starting tomorrow. but as patrick gearey explains, england don't usually do well the in final match of a test series. to old trafford for the end of a series as changeable as the local weather. from the applause at lord's to the sinking at trent bridge, then renewal at the oval. joe root must feel he has been england captain for three years, not three matches. full of confidence after last week. obviously the last couple of days with the weather had not been ideal in terms of preparation, but we have

got stuck in and made the most of it. looking forward to getting going again. it's a new challenge, new service against the side that are very good batting. we know we can't ta ke very good batting. we know we can't take anything for granted or take them lightly at any stage. where next? indoors, for a start. this is manchester, after all. england now including steven finn were kept out of the drizzle although being under roof does not give you cover from everything... the rains meant route has not seen the pitch, so we can't see the team. whether is one of the many unknowns about this test. plenty of work for the ground staff to do to get the pitch ready, and plenty of work for england as well. they have lost the last match in eight of their last nine test series. south africa will be aware of that. they bounced back in this series once already with bowl vernon philander recovered from his virus, they arrive with optimism and honesty. it's been an extreme series, where one team is on top for a couple of days, then you walk up

the next game and it changes completely. we haven't spoken about the areas where we can improve from the areas where we can improve from the previous game, but it's important tonight that we put that to bed. one team trying to win its first series in the year, the other confident and capable of smudging snatching it from them. all confident, permitting, of course. st helens became the first side to win this year at super league leaders castleford as they sealed victory in the opening game of the super 8s three second half trys, including this from johnny lomax, gave saints a 26—12 win. it's the first time castleford, who lead by ten points at the top of the table have been beaten at home sincejuly last year. widnes vikings half—back rangi chase has been suspended from all training and playing activity after testing positive for cocaine. it's been revealed that chase failed a drugs test following their defeat against wakefield last month. a widnes statement reads: "the club fully respects this suspension and are currently reviewing this matter."

leigh halfpenny has signed a three—year deal with scarlets in a deal partly funded by the welsh rugby union. the wales and british and irish lions full—back was out of contract after spending three seasons with toulon. the highly—rated filly winter won the feature race, the nassau stakes, at glorious goodwood. the odds—on favourite was ridden to victory by ryan moore, making it winter's fourth group one win of the season. golf — and there are some big names near the top of the leaderboard in the first round of the women's british open at kingsbarns — notably michelle wie the american shot nine birdies in a brilliant eight under par round of 64, that's her lowest round in a major — and all after she dropped a shot at her second hole — wie leads by one shot. england's noel reid posted bogeys on 14 england's noel reid posted bogeys on 1a and 16 to finish five under par,

three shots under the leader. that's all from sportsday. coming up in a moment, the papers. hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with me arejoe watts political editor at the independent and the deputy political editor of the daily express alison little. let's look at tomorrow's front pages. the express has a warning about eu sugar imports fuelling a health crisis. in the i, an ultimatum for the cabinet on mental healthcare for the cabinet on mental healthcare. a report warning against wasteful spending in the nhs makes the main headline in the times. the metro leads with the news that a young british man who supposedly found a way to block the ransomware that hit the nhs recently,

has been charged with selling malware in the us. the mirror has this story of a terminally ill man's video diary as he travels to dignitas. and the mail leads with what they call ‘eu border chaos', the paper reports british travellers are being told to get to the airport three hours early. let us start with that. we can all look forward to spending half of our holiday at an airport. it's interesting how some of the papers making this a brexit issue and others not. in the end it is about security in new passport checks. that seems to be yet, though we are blaming europeans for knowing this was coming and not me personally... some people in britain. are blaming european governments for not putting enough staff, they knew they were introducing this checks and it was a security measures, they say it is for non—... yes. it is a security

issue. the telegraph which we are moving on to, my heart goes out to all these people going to the apple. it's the perfect summer story, isn't it? everyone is about to go on holiday or hasjust it? everyone is about to go on holiday or has just bin. it? everyone is about to go on holiday or hasjust bin. all panicking or packing bags. —— about to go on holiday or have just been. actually, airports are saying in the three hourly wage may not be enough. you have got 10 million people flooding through these airports over the next few days. these extra checks are causing these huge queues, so checks are causing these huge queues, so it is the perfect amalgamation of summer holiday story and brexit together. in the telegraph, a different take on the story. this is saying a minister here saying there should be uk only passport lines. they say to retaliate for brexit queues, so clearly blaming it on a brexit. the idea that the uk the uk even though we're not part of the free showing in travel area should have its own dedicated line. is that likely to

you think? —— the shang in travel area. this slightly cancer is a silly season story. if you have newspaper space to fill, its an unnamed minister. it has to be said. —— this slightly seems like a silly season story. one wonders if this is notjust subterfuge season story. one wonders if this is not just subterfuge from the eu