John Hurt hopeful in cancer battle

“We’re all just passing time, and occupy our chair very briefly”.

He said: “I did nothing to encourage it. Some people do, you know”.

“I like being Sir John – it works, doesn’t it? I tell them it’s no longer correct”.

He also told Radio Times that his treatment for pancreatic cancer – one of the most aggressive forms of the disease – was going “terrifically well”.

The 75-year-old actor, who announced in June that he’d been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, has revealed his treatment is “going terrifically well” and he’s “optimistic” of making a full recovery.

He stars in a play for Radio 4 written by Keith Waterhouse entitled Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell, which centres on the late famous British journalist of the same name who was known for gambling, womanising, drinking excessively and writing wonderful pieces.

He said: “We’ve become obsessed with the dangers of alcohol – you get newspaper articles that are entirely over the top”.

Hurt won Oscar nominations for his roles in The Elephant Man and Midnight Express, and was awarded with a knighthood past year. I wonder who instigated that?

Peter O’Toole, as ideal a physical template as you could get for Bernard, was lauded for the poetic melancholy he brought to the original run, while Tom Conti, at the Garrick in 2006, went for the sympathy vote in a wistful performance.

Life “was more fun” in the old days, he said, including the freedom to make passes at women without being accused of harassment.

Recently, he has been filming The History of Love with Gemma Arterton and Derek Jacobi, and Tarzan with Samuel L Jackson and Margot Robbie.

On the big screen, he played Mr Ollivander, a wand merchant in several of the Harry Potter films.