HE WAS the larger-than-life Italian who loved football almost as much as he adored pasta and did more than anyone else in recent years to popularise opera.
Luciano Pavarotti was – culturally as well as physically – a huge figure on the world's cultural stage.
Few had heard Puccini’s stirring Nessun Dorma before Pavarotti's version blasted out from out TVs as the anthem of the 1990 World Cup.
He packed the sort of venues usually played by the rock stars and his glorious voice ensured that ordinary people became hooked on the sort of music wrongly thought to be only for highbrows and toffs.
Thanks for the sounds, Pav.