The British actor and screenwriter Colin Welland has died at the age of 81. He won an Academy Award for his screenplay for the 1981 running drama Chariots of Fire, famously declaring “The British are coming!” as he collected the award.
His other screenplays include for the 1979 drama Yanks, starring Vanessa Redgrave, and several dramas for the television series Play for Today.
As an actor, he won a BAFTA playing schoolteacher Mr Farthing in Ken Loach’s Kes (1969), also appearing in Sam Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs (1971) and numerous dramas and series for television including Z Cars, The Sweeney and Man at the Top.
