Certain as the sun

How I got the news at 12:48 this morning; elder daughter got it from BBC at 8:48 pm GMT

 To my daughters, she was the voice of Mrs Potts in Beauty and the Beast, the near-sighted aunt in Nanny McPhee, and the Balloon Lady in Mary Poppins Returns. 

 To me, she was the original Mrs Lovett in Sweeney Todd on Broadway, and the cool, cruel mother in the quirky 1964 film The World of Henry Orient.

And she was so much more.  In a career spanning about 75 years, she worked with practically every big name you can think of.  

As with so many people who stay active for so long, we fondly thought this would never end.