It’s not a regular day when two icons find their way into the obituary columns with a depressing suddeness. A tribute to the marvelous Sir Dai “Lock Up Your Daughters” Llewellyn, Bt will follow. So much of his outrageous life will be told in legend for decades to come.

However TheEye has odd political views and today mourns the passing of Patrick McGoohan. Known to all of us as The Prisoner, he took on the directorship of his brainchild towards its end to push his own libertarian message. He hit 80, which is a fair innings in anyone’s scorebook, although didn’t have to endure the supposed Hollywood remake of his groundbreaking story. He’d have hated it, as would every true fan.

You can’t beat Portmeirion, can you, Number Six?

He won two Emmy Awards, although seperated by 16 years, for working on We’re-Going-To-Tell-You-The-Murderer-Right-At-The-Start “Columbo” featuring that bloke in the dirty raincoat.

He also got a BAFTA for best television actor in The Greatest Man In The World, starred as Danger Man, and played Edward Longshanks in Braveheart. TheEye hated Braveheart. Married for 57 years (and how many people can say that these days) he had three daughters.

TheEye is going to dig out those old Prisoner DVDs because it’s times like this with ID cards, DNA databases and goodness-knows-what that we all need to remember I AM NOT A NUMBER. I AM A FREE MAN!

TheEye may watch V For Vendetta again today. With what this government is doing at the moment, these things are a wakeup call for all.

RIP Patrick McGoohan.