I don’t want to linger ... 75’s a good age to go

THE entertainer had said she ‘did not want to linger’ and considered 75 a ‘good age to go’. Miss Black spoke poignantly about preferring to die before an illness could stop her from enjoying life.

Last year she revealed she was struggling with deafness and arthritis. The former TV presenter said she was ‘falling apart’ and felt she could no longer accept offers of work.

Last year she said: ‘Seventy-five is a good age to go. I still think that way. If things are starting to drop off – like the hearing – and I’ve got twinges in the morning, I do think that.’ Her family wanted her to stay alive as long as possible, she said, adding: ‘But secretly I don’t want to linger. I don’t want to be a burden on anybody.

She also revealed she supported assisted suicide. She said: ‘I agree with Dignitas, but I couldn’t be the one to administer the poison that kills me. I know I couldn’t commit suicide. I’m too much of a coward. I’d rather somebody make that decision for me.’

In another interview she said she did not want to suffer like her mother Priscilla, who had osteoporosis. Miss Black revealed: ‘She said to me once, “I’m trying to die but I can’t.” Oh God, it was heart-breaking. The brain was great but the body wasn’t. Eventually she did die when she was 84. It wasn’t a good experience. I think that’s what made me feel like this. My biggest fear is going like that when I can’t control my body.’

Revealing the extent of her own suffering, she later told the Daily Mail: ‘I am falling apart. My hand is falling apart. I can’t shake hands. I had arthritis and I had an operation for it ... because I was in pain. I am not in pain at the moment. But it looks a bit deformed on the wrist. It is going to take some time to heal. I fell in the park earlier this year and hurt my hand.’