Sad news today that Sir Christopher Lee has died at the age of 93.

He was the definitive Count Dracula (accept no imitations), a classy Bond villain, Tolkien’s wizard Saruman, and of course his best role of all, Lord Summerisle in the 1973 classic “The Wicker Man”.

Perhaps because so many of the films he starred in were considered too lowbrow, it took a long time for the cultural establishment to give he the recognition he deserved. But he was eventually rewarded with a well-deserved knighthood as one of Britain’s finest actors.

He didn’t just do horror. Remember his starring role, as the villain of course, in the Australian-made comedy musical “The Return of Captain Invincible”?

His work in the world of Metal mustn’t be forgotten either. Here he is with Rhapsody of Fire; he contributed spoken-word narration on several of their albums, on this track he runs rings around Fabio Lione as a singer.

Farewell, Sir Christopher Lee. As was said on Twitter, 93 is a good innings, and cricket stumps make very good stakes.