PETER USTINOV - SIR PETER USTINOV HONOURED WITH A PUBLIC MEMORIAL CEREMONY

OSCAR-winning actor SIR PETER USTINOV was honoured yesterday (03APR04) with a public memorial ceremony in Geneva's ST PETER CATHEDRAL.

The London-born actor and entertaining raconteur, who passed away in Switzerland earlier this week (28MAR04), was later buried in a private ceremony in a village cemetery at Bursins, overlooking Lake Geneva where he had been living for decades.

Ustinov was a talented linguist - fluent in French, Spanish, German, Italian, and Russian - and could also speak Greek and Turkish. He was a novelist and noted public speaker, and also worked as an ambassador for the charity UNICEF.

He was knighted by QUEEN ELIZABETH II in 1990.