Conductor and wife die at assisted suicide clinic

BRITISH maestro Edward Downes, who conducted the BBC Philharmonic and the Royal Opera has died with his wife, Joan, at anassisted suicide clinic in Switzerland. He was 85 and she was 74.

The couple’s children have said the couple died “peacefully and under circumstances of their own choosing” on Friday at a Zurich clinic run by the group Dignitas.

“After 54 happy years together, they decided to end their own lives rather than continue to struggle with serious health problems,” said a statement from the couple’s son and daughter, Caractacus and Boudicca.