Actress June Spencer – most famous for her role in the long-running BBC Radio 4 drama The Archers – has died at the age of 105, her family has said.

She played Peggy Woolley in the programme’s first episode in 1951 and, barring a break from the show, played the role until her retirement in 2022, aged 103.

A statement released by the BBC said: “June Spencer, aged 105, best known for playing Peggy in BBC Radio 4 The Archers, died peacefully in her sleep in the early hours of this morning.

“Her family would like to pay particular tribute and thanks to the staff team at Liberham Lodge, who so lovingly cared for her in the last two years.”

The character of Peggy, who was a matriarch on the show, began as a left-wing firebrand, but as the years went on was often viewed as a traditionalist and conservative.

Her on-air storylines saw her character deal with alcoholism, gambling and bereavement.

The rural drama, with its well-known jaunty theme tune, charts the ups and downs of farming life in fictional Ambridge.

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Jeremy Howe, editor of The Archers, said working with her was “one of the great privileges of my time at the BBC”, and added that aside from performing as “the ultimate matriarch of Ambridge”, she was a “brilliant actress”.

He also said: “One of the cast once remarked that in all her time in the show he had only ever heard her fluff her lines the once.

“She was an actress who revelled in her craft, someone who could score a bullseye with a gently insulting cough as if it were a bon mot from Oscar Wilde.

“She was also a great company member – funny, sharp, warm, never gossipy, but with wonderful stories of the early days of radio drama, self-deprecating and a great companion.”

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Mr Howe also hailed her as “the queen” of the soap, and said with “her death The Archers has lost its link with the birth of the show over 70 years ago”.

“It is a humbling moment for us all,” he added.

Spencer was one of the original cast, but left in 1953 and was replaced by Thelma Rogers.

She returned to the show to play other characters at times during the 1950s, before reprising her role as Peggy in 1961 -continuing until her retirement in 2022.

The late Queen Elizabeth was one of the actress’s many fans, inviting Spencer and her Archers co-stars to Clarence House for a reception marking the show’s 70th anniversary in 2021.

Queen Camilla also made a cameo appearance as herself in a special 60th-anniversary episode of the show in 2011.

Beyonce and Taylor Swift have made Grammy history, with the nominations for this year’s awards revealed.

Beyonce leads this year’s female-dominated nominations, receiving 11 nods and making her the most nominated artist in the show’s history, with 99 in total.

Her success as the most-nominated artist comes after her country album, Cowboy Carter, was roundly snubbed at this year’s County Music Association Awards.

The43-year-old star’s chart-topping album secured nods for album of the year and best country album, while track Texas Hold ‘Em is up for record of the year and song of the year.

Beyonce picked up her 32nd gong at last year’s ceremony, but despite winning the most awards in a lifetime, she’s yet to win the coveted album of the year award.

With nods across a host of genres, including pop, country, Americana and melodic rap, many will be predicting she’ll surely take the prize next year. If she does, it will make her the first black woman to do so this century.

Meanwhile, Swift’s seventh nod in the album category for her surprise double album The Tortured Poets Department means she overtakes Barbra Streisand, who had formerly tied with the Shake It Off star with six nominations.

Swift won the best album category last year with Midnights.

Following Beyonce in the lead for nominations, Charli XCX – whose trend setting album Brat saw the moniker become word of the year – has seven nods (her first as a solo artist), as does Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, and Post Malone.

American singer-songwriter Sabrina Carpenter continues her stellar year with six nods, as do Chappell Roan and Swift, who finishes her record-breaking Eras tour in North America next month.

As well as Charlie XCX getting some Grammy nomination love, British star Raye also received her first nominations for best new artist and songwriter of the year non-classical.

Carpenter and Roan also made it into the prestigious best new artist category.

While The Beatles – who formed in Liverpool and went on to become the biggest musical act in the world – are up for record of the year with Now And Then.

Nominations were announced by past Grammy winners including Kylie Minogue, Mark Ronson and last year’s best new artist recipient, Victoria Monet.

The annual ceremony – which gives out a whopping 94 gongs in total – has four big categories – album, record and song of the year and best new artist.

The Recording Academy have adjusted to those categories this year, reducing the number of potential nominees from 10 to eight.

It’s also updated some of its rules to keep up with the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in music and introduced three new categories – best African music performance, best pop dance recording, and best alternative jazz album.

The eligibility period for work ran from 16 September 2023 to 30 August 2024.

Women dominated last year’s awards too, with Swift taking album of the year, Eilish winning song of the year and Miley Cyrus taking home record of the year.

The 67th Grammy Awards take place on Sunday 2 February 2025, at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

Main category nominees

Album Of The Year
New Blue Sun – Andre 3000
Cowboy Carter- Beyonce
Short N’ Sweet – Sabrina Carpenter
Brat – Charli XCX
Djesse Vol. 4 – Jacob Collier
Hit Me Hard And Soft – Billie Eilish
Chappell Roan The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess – Chappell Roan
The Tortured Poets Department – Taylor Swift

Record Of The Year
Now And Then – The Beatles
Texas Hold ‘Em – Beyonce
Espresso – Sabrina Carpenter
360 – Charli XCX
Birds Of A Feather – Billie Eilish
Not Like Us – Kendrick Lamar
Good Luck, Babe! – Chappell Roan
Fortnight – Taylor Swift Featuring Post Malone

Song Of The Year
A Bar Song (Tipsy) – Sean Cook, Jerrel Jones, Joe Kent, Chibueze Collins Obinna, Nevin Sastry & Mark Williams, songwriters (Shaboozey)
Birds Of A Feather – Billie Eilish O’Connell & Finneas O’Connell, songwriters (Billie Eilish)
Die With A Smile – Dernst ‘D’Mile’ Emile II, James Fauntleroy, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars & Andrew Watt, songwriters (Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars)
Fortnight – Jack Antonoff, Austin Post & Taylor Swift, songwriters (Taylor Swift Featuring Post Malone)
Good Luck, Babe! – Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, Daniel Nigro & Justin Tranter, songwriters (Chappell Roan)
Not Like Us – Kendrick Lamar, songwriter (Kendrick Lamar)
Please Please Please – Amy Allen, Jack Antonoff & Sabrina Carpenter, songwriters (Sabrina Carpenter)
Texas Hold ‘Em – Brian Bates, Beyonce, Elizabeth Lowell Boland, Megan Bülow, Nate Ferraro & Raphael Saadiq, songwriters (Beyonce)

Best New Artist
Benson Boone
Sabrina Carpenter
Doechii
Khruangbin
Raye
Chappell Roan
Shaboozey
Teddy Swims

Three people have been charged in connection with the death of One Direction star Liam Payne in Argentina, the public prosecutor’s office in the country has said.

The 31-year-old pop star died after he fell from a third-floor balcony at the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires on 16 October.

The three were arrested and charged with “abandonment of a person followed by death, supply and facilitation of narcotics,” said a statement by the office of prosecutor Andres Esteban Madrea.

The statement said “Liam Payne was not fully conscious or was experiencing a state of noticeable decrease or loss of consciousness at the time of the fall”.

It said one of the accused “accompanied the artist on a daily basis” during his stay in the Argentinian capital, while another was a hotel employee.

The prosecutor’s office said it had received several dozen testimonies, analysed more than 800 hours of video from security cameras and public roads, and conducted a “forensic extraction” of the contents of Payne’s phone, allowing for his calls, messages and social media networks to be analysed.

It said the investigation revealed “at least four supplies of narcotics” had been discovered.

The results of toxicology tests revealed in the moments before his death Payne had alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant in his body, it added.

The statement said Payne “did not adopt a reflex posture to protect himself from the fall” so it can be inferred he may have fallen “in a state of semi or total unconsciousness”.

It said that would “rule out the possibility of a conscious or voluntary act” as “in the state he was in, he did not know what he was doing nor could he understand it”.

Argentine investigators found what appeared to be narcotics and alcohol strewn around broken objects and furniture in Payne‘s hotel room, leading the public prosecution to surmise he had suffered a substance abuse-induced breakdown around the time of his fall.

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