MIKE OLDFIELD - OLDFIELD QUITS BRITAIN OVER SMOKING BAN

Musician MIKE OLDFIELD has quit Britain - because he hates the country's smoking ban. The Tubular Bells composer is selling his $7 million (GBP3.5 million) Gloucestershire, England, mansion to prepare for a move to Spain, as he insists life in the U.K. has become "intolerable" following the ban on smoking in public places, which came into effect on 1 July (07). He says, "I went to a very strict prep school. You were so restricted. It was one of the worst times in my life. Britain has been getting more and more like that, what with this health-and-safety business. "It is too intrusive. Imagine if Winston Churchill was given a GBP50 fine for smoking his cigar. He would never have stood for it. I don't want to live in a country where a little old lady has to wear a hard hat and a luminous vest just to look after the village green. It's ludicrous. "It seems we have lost our freedom."