Acclaimed voice actor Peter Cullen, best known as Optimus Prime in the Transformers franchise, has died at the age of 85.

Cullen played the alien robot on the classic 1980s animated series as well as the string of hit live-action movies directed by Michael Bay and starring Shia LaBeouf.

Fans of retro children’s television may also recognize him as the voice of Eeyore on The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, which ran from 1988 to 1991.

His representative confirmed to the Daily Mail that Cullen died at his home in Los Angeles this Wednesday but did not specify a cause.

‘Peter Cullen passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loving family – and held in the hearts of his many friends and countless fans worldwide,’ his family said.

‘His family asks that you honor his remarkable legacy by serving your communities and leading others with compassion, integrity, and loyalty and always remember “be strong enough to be gentle,”‘ their statement continued.

Cullen played the alien robot on the classic 1980s animated series as well as the string of hit live-action movies; the character is pictured in the 2014 film Transformers: Age of Extinction

Peter Claver Cullen was born in Montreal in 1941 and grew up with three siblings – one of whom, his brother Larry, became the basis for Optimus Prime’s voice.

Although he initially nurtured dreams of being a serious actor, studying Shakespeare as part of the first graduating class of the National Theatre School of Canada, he ‘soon came to the conclusion that I really wasn’t cut out to be the artsy guy,’ he said.

‘I had too much fun. I had followed the experience of grade school and high school by being the clown,’ he shared in an interview with The Young Folks. 

Cullen jobbed around in Montreal on local film and TV and began working nightclub revues, where he honed his talent for assuming a variety of accents and characters.

With his young wife and child in tow, he struck out to Hollywood for a TV show in the style of Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In that flopped, leaving him scrambling to pick up the pieces and eventually landing an announcing gig on The Sonny & Cher Show.

It was his friend Jonathan Winters, the iconic comedian and star of It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, who advised him: ‘You know, Peter, what you ought to is, you ought to do your voices. Those voices, you could make a lot of bread.’ 

After working a string of ‘additional voices’ jobs on such shows as Scooby-Doo & Scrappy-Doo and Alvin and the Chipmunks, he achieved his big break in 1984.

That year, he aced his ‘cattle call’ audition for the role of Optimus Prime, the chief of the heroic machines known as Autobots, on the show The Transformers.

After working a string of ‘additional voices’ jobs on such shows as Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo and Alvin and the Chipmunks, he achieved his big break in 1984 on The Transformers

Cullen’s inimitable contribution was a mainstay, including in the 1986 animated feature The Transformers: The Movie, the swan song of Orson Welles

The first five live-action Transformers films were all helmed by Michael Bay and two of them, Dark of the Moon in 2011 (pictured) and Age of Extinction in 2014, earned over $1 billion apiece

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With an all-star cast featuring Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox, the original 2007 picture emerged as one of the highest-grossing of the year and resulted in a cavalcade of sequels

‘On the advice of my brother Larry – who is a Marine Corps captain and fought in Vietnam and when he came back he had a very different outlook on life – one day when he asked where I was going I said: “I’m going to audition for a truck,” and he laughed,’ Cullen recalled decades later.

‘And I said: “No, he’s a hero truck,” and then he got very serious and he said: “Well Peter, if you’re going to be a hero, be a real hero. Don’t be one of those phony Hollywood sounding types that think they’re tough and they’re not.”‘

Larry’s guidance to his younger brother was: ‘Be compassionate, be strong enough to be gentle, and have a little dignity. But be strong.’

When Cullen arrived at the audition, his brother’s voice was still ringing in his ears, and it was Larry’s intonation that emerged when he began playing Optimus Prime.

The show became a beloved children’s classic during its run from 1984 through 1987, producing what over the decades grew into a multi-billion-dollar franchise.

Cullen’s inimitable contribution was a mainstay, including in the 1986 animated feature The Transformers: The Movie, the swan song of Orson Welles. 

In 1988 he earned a job on The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh as the unshakably morose donkey Eeyore, a part he continued to play in projects like The Tigger Movie, A Very Merry Pooh Year, Piglet’s Big Movie, My Friends Tigger & Pooh, The Book of Pooh and House of Mouse.

He joked that stepping into the gentle world created by AA Milne was a ‘relief’ after his previous action-packed shows and films, speaking onstage at TF Con.

Fans of retro children’s television may also recognize him as the voice of Eeyore on The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, which ran from 1988 to 1991

In 2007, his voice reached a massive global audience with the release of the first of the live-action Transformers movies directed by Michael Bay.

With an all-star cast featuring Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Tyrese Gibson, Jon Voight and Anthony Anderson, the picture emerged as one of the highest-grossing of the year and resulted in a cavalcade of sequels.

The first five films were all helmed by Bay and two of them, Dark of the Moon in 2011 and Age of Extinction in 2014, earned over $1 billion apiece.

Cullen remained with the franchise after Bay left, voicing Optimus Prime most recently in the 2023 release Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.

For the following year’s picture Transformers One, which was conceived as an origin story, he was replaced by the younger-sounding Chris Hemsworth. 

When asked about his own Transformers films crossing the billion-dollar mark, Cullen said: ‘It’s a staggering thought, and it’s humbling at the same time,’ via IGN.

‘There is such great talent behind the scenes as well as from the artistry to the conception to the writing to the directing to the acting,’ he observed. 

‘For me, I take great pride in being a part of it. It will never cease to be an area of conversation in my life, and thankfully so, because it is such a positive feeling to be able to talk about it. It’s one of the highlights of my life.’

A second wave of deadly flash flooding could arrive in Nepal within days, authorities have warned, as rescue teams face a race against time to find survivors of a catastrophe that has already killed more than 350 people.

A lake of rising water has formed along the Bhotekoshi River and the Nepalese disaster authorities, fearing it may yet burst its banks, have urged residents and rescuers along the lower banks to move to safe areas.

Monitors also warned that a section of the Trishuli River may have been blocked by debris during Wednesday’s floods, creating a landslide dam that could burst “imminently”.

The fast-moving situation has complicated rescue efforts, with nearly 910 people still unaccounted for, including more than 500 foreigners and 33 British tourists.

The UK has offered £5m to help Nepal deal with what the prime minister called a “very distressing and devastating situation”.

Speaking to journalists on a visit to south Wales, Andy Burnham said: “It’s a devastating picture that is emerging from what has happened in Nepal. Obviously, there are a number of British nationals who currently are thought to be missing and we’ll be providing all the support we can to their families in what is a very distressing and devastating situation.”

Two teenagers – a 13-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy – are among the British nationals believed to be unaccounted for.

Authorities were using helicopters to search for survivors and drop emergency supplies on Thursday after water and mud swept through the Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading districts.

The president of the Nepal Centre for Disaster Management, Dr Bishal Nath Upreti, said the situation on the ground was so dire that entire villages had been “wiped out”.

“It was such a huge amount of water,” he said. “You can imagine it is 20 million cubic metres excess water on the river, and it was like a tsunami from the sky.”

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said that satellite information from China indicated that the Bhote Koshi river had been blocked, creating a risk of a second flood.

In a post on social media, it said that suggested that “the lake is in the process of rising and there is a risk of bursting”.

Keshav Prasad Baral, a 68-year-old survivor being treated in a Nepali hospital, said: “It was a huge gush of mud coming straight towards us. As it got closer, it kept rising higher and higher. When I saw it enter our home, I tried to grab my wife’s hand and take her to the terrace. But she was swept away by the mud.”

A helicopter ferried him to safety four hours later. “My wife is still somewhere beneath the mud,” he told Reuters. “She’s gone.”

Rescue teams on the Nepali side said on Thursday that they had so far found 25 Chinese workers and around 100 Indian visitors, but 910 people were still missing. That figure included 517 foreign citizens, 44 soldiers and 28 police officers. Neighbouring India had the highest number of missing people – 178 – the Nepali tourism industry said.

The Red Cross said entire villages had been destroyed and impassable roads and bridges had left communities cut off. The full scale of the disaster remains unclear, it added.

Unicef reported that at least 17,000 children have been affected by the floods, and at least 14 have been killed.

“Children across Rasuwa and Dhading saw their lives being literally washed away in front of their eyes in a very short span of time, with homes, classrooms, and medical facilities damaged,” said Alice Akunga, Unicef’s representative to Nepal. “Too many lost their lives and loved ones. With the death toll still rising, we know this tragedy is far from over.”

Meteorologists on the Chinese side warned of possible floods, landslides and other secondary disasters in the coming days, affecting Gyirong County.

David Simon, professor of development geography at Royal Holloway, University of London, told The Independent that depressions that may seasonally fill up with water can create secondary disasters during periods of flooding. That could entail filling up and overtopping like dam overflows, or the force of the water rupturing part of the rim, he said.

“What they will hopefully be doing is starting to monitor those sources very carefully … and crucially starting to evacuate people and get as much of the infrastructure out of the way as possible. Given the remoteness, the topography, and so on, it’s very unlikely that they’ll be able to get large enough pumps to pump stuff out and prevent the catastrophe that way.”

Prof Simon said the Himalayas had not experienced flooding on such a scale before, and warned that it was only likely to continue as glaciers thin and summers continue to bring “extraordinary” weather.

Nepali officials have suggested that an earthquake in the area could have caused the lower part of a glacier to collapse, triggering Wednesday’s flooding, and scientists have said climate change is creating conditions that can destabilise high-mountain rock and ice, increasing the likelihood of disasters like thiss.

Benjamin Horton, dean of the School of Energy and Environment at the City University of Hong Kong, said Wednesday’s incident could be a classic example of a “compound event”. That happens when an earthquake interacts with climate-driven changes, such as glacier loss, thawing permafrost, and slope instability, to “create a more complex and damaging disaster than would occur from any one factor alone”, he told Reuters.

Emergency services rushed to the scene

A person has been seriously injured after a crash on the A10. Cambridgeshire Police were called at about 10am on Thursday, August 27 with reports of a crash involving a van and a car at Waterbeach.

Emergency services rushed to the scene and the road was temporarily closed. The force has confirmed one person suffered serious injuries and was taken to hospital.

The vehicles were recovered by 11am. The road has since reopened.

A spokesperson for Cambridgeshire Police said: “We were called at about 10am today with reports of a collision involving a van and a car on the A10 at Waterbeach.

“Officers and ambulance attended. One person received serious injuries and was taken to hospital. Vehicle recovery completed by about 11am.”

Giardiasis is spread primarily through contact with infected people or animals, but you can also contract it if you eat or drink contaminated items, including water.

Hanna Yusuf, prescribing pharmacist at Chemist4U, has also warned that giardiasis can be passed on through touching contaminated surfaces and by having sex with someone who is infected with the parasite.

The pharmacist said: “The latest figures from the UKHSA showing an 11.4% increase in the number of infections across England show that you need to also be aware of the risks at home.”

Parasite with ‘unpleasant’ symptoms sees cases rise

Symptoms of the parasite “can be very unpleasant” and can last several weeks, Yusuf adds.

Most people experience diarrhoea, stomach cramps, bloating and unexplained weight loss while infected.

You can expect symptoms to last for weeks, which can result in the infected person becoming dehydrated.

Yusuf advises “drinking plenty of fluids” to keep yourself hydrated while ill and you could also add oral rehydration sachets or solutions to replace electrolytes you might have lost while experiencing vomiting and diarrhoea.

How to reduce your risk of contracting giardiasis

Doing some simple things can help you avoid getting giardiasis.

To reduce your risk, you should:

• Wash your hands thoroughly after using the toilet and before preparing food
• Avoid swallowing water when swimming
• Be careful about food and water hygiene when travelling

The pharmacist added: “So, whether you are travelling abroad or in the UK, it is important to be aware of the risks of giardiasis.

“If you suspect you may have giardiasis, seek medical advice.

“Treatment may include medication prescribed by a doctor, particularly if symptoms are persistent or severe, alongside measures to maintain hydration.”

Recommended reading:

When to contact 111 with giardiasis

The NHS has shared when you should get an urgent doctor appointment or contact 111 with giardiasis.

You can contact 111 by phone or online and should do so if:

• diarrhoea has lasted for more than 7 days
• you have bloody diarrhoea or are bleeding from your bottom

The NHS urges you to make it clear to the people you speak to if you have recently travelled abroad.

How do you treat tough symptoms like vomiting and diarrhoea? Let us know your best remedies in the comments below.

Karucha Sripramote, who has lived in Hebburn for more than six years, says he was punched and kicked by masked children while walking through Hebburn Riverside Park on Tuesday, August 18.

He said he had been repeatedly harassed by a boy on an electric bike before the assault, blocking his path and flicking dirt on him with the bike wheel.

It was reported that he suffered a cut to his mouth and damage to his glasses, but now says his injuries have almost fully healed.

Mr Sripramote, who is known as Monk Kom, said the attack would not change his view of the community.

Writing on social media, Sripramote says he holds “no anger” towards the children involved.

He said: “I know first-hand how kind, welcoming, and peaceful this town is.

“This single incident does not change how much I value and appreciate living here.

“As a Buddhist monk, I contemplate life through understanding, patience, and the principle of cause and effect.

“I hold no anger, resentment, or bitterness towards the young lads.

“While their actions crossed a line, panic and poor judgement often lead young people to react recklessly.”

Sripramote, who teaches Buddhism and meditation at the Dhammakaya Meditation Centre in the former Church of St Andrew, now says he was “deeply touched by the outpouring of support” from the community.

He said: “My only hope is that these young lads take a moment to reflect on the kind of community they wish to grow up in.”

Northumbria Police said they had logged the report on their records to assist with future patrols, though there was no direct CCTV coverage at that specific spot.

The Northern Echo has contacted Northumbria Police for comment.

EastEnders’ new grooming story is an extremely uncomfortable watch.

That is in no small part due to the stand-out performance of Ellie Dadd, whose character  Amy Mitchell is unknowingly entering a very dangerous relationship with sleazy police officer Craig Ingram (Matthew James Bailey).

The detective’s motives for befriending the teen seemed benevolent enough at the time. He was leading the investigation into the attack on Joel Marshall (Max Murray), who has no shortage on enemies on Albert Square due to his vile assault on stepmother Vicki Fowler (Alice Haig), not to mention his disgusting treatment of Avani Nandra-Hart (Aaliyah James) 

Despite grilling a great deal of Walford’s teens while making enquiries, who were in the all park prior to the incident, he has displayed a particular interest in the wayward daughter of Jack Branning (Scott Maslen), a fellow copper.

Perhaps for good reason, seeing as Craig’s investigation of Amy yielded positive results when she privately confessed to him that she was the one who assaulted Joel. She hit the incel bully over the head with a hammer when he wouldn’t stop taunting her.

However, in the process of befriending Amy, Craig arranged private meetings with her, gave her his private number, and even joked about ‘running away’ together.That’s questionable conduct that would raise eyebrows with his superiors in the force.

And it turns out, it has.

It was recently revealed in a meeting with DS Reynolds that complaint had been made against Craig , confirming that the boundary crossing copper was being investigated for gross misconduct over ‘engaging in inappropriate relationships with a female officer’.

Worse still, Craig is still up to his old tricks. He promised Amy that he wouldn’t tell anyone that she attacked Joel, exerting a worrying power over the teenage girl whilst committing the crime of withholding evidence.

This only led poor Amy to the conclusion that Craig was the only one she could trust, enabling a toxic power dynamic leading to the creepy cop kissing her this week.

Ellie, who joined EastEnders in 2022 after having previously starred in Silent Witness and a West End production of Matilda, plays 17 year old Amy Mitchell.

She is 21 in real life, born on March 15, 2005.

Unfortunately Ellie has been the victim of a real life obsession, in 2023,when a disturbed fan was sentenced for repeatedly harassing the actress online.

The age of Craig has not been revealed, but Matthew James Bailey, who plays the character is 31.

Prior to his stint on the Square, Matthew played bad boy Ethan Williams on Hollyoaks.

The most disturbing part of Amy and Craig’s interactions is how they seems like part of a perfectly ordinary burgeoning relationship thanks to the police officer’s manipulations, masking the signs of grooming.

When he first asked Amy out, Craig was careful to disguise his motive.

‘Amy, if you want someone to talk to, we could go for a drink?” he said., quickly back-tracking when she frowned. ‘Unless… No, sorry, bad idea.’

Craig then threw in some flattery to make her feel grown up, along with a compliment about her physical appearance: ‘Don’t get me wrong, you’re an old soul deep down. I know that, obviously, but I’m just not sure you look… mature enough to get served.’

Amy took the bait, insisting ‘I can get served. Trust me.’

‘Ok, all right, then,” Craig replied, adding: “Well, tomorrow?’.

To our horror, Amy agreed.

It makes sense that Craig would target someone as vulnerable as Amy Mitchell, who was previously involved in EastEnders’ ground-breaking self-harm story. Ellie praised the soap for raising the issue, hoping that it would well help those watching the soap who are going through a similar situation with a loved one.

‘It does happen a lot nowadays and it’s less spoken about, and a lot of people in the older generation don’t know about this stuff. So if they found out they had a family member doing it they wouldn’t know how to deal with it.

‘So it’s a good way to spread the information that people can get help. I think it’s really important.’

MORE: What happens next in EastEnders? New spoilers for Thursday’s episode confirmed

MORE: What happens next in EastEnders? Big spoilers for Wednesday’s episode confirmed

MORE: Amy staggered as suspended detective Craig makes his next move in EastEnders

The ‘patchwork’ repairs on a Cambridge road have seen 51 individual potholes filled, with locals and residents questioning the approach to road maintenance

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Cambridgeshire Live readers have been debating patchwork road repairs, with many divided over who bears responsibility and how best to resolve the issue.

A staggering 51 individual pothole repairs have been carried out along a single road in a ‘patchwork’ fashion. Aberdeen Avenue in Cambridge has drawn attention for the repairs, which have seen separate potholes filled at the junction with Brooklands Avenue.

Several of the 51 patchwork repairs overlap one another. Critics say that more substantial, longer-lasting solutions are required.

Cambridgeshire County Council (CCC) stated the potholes “have developed over a period of time and have been repaired as they have appeared”.

One of our readers suggests: “Whoever laid the original surface should pay for repairs, as it clearly isn’t fit for purpose. The council needs to hold them accountable.”

Highwayshero believes: “The council spends £££ sending them back time and time again to the same place rather than fixing the whole issue at once. If you hire someone to chop down a tree in your garden, you can’t blame them if they haven’t got rid of a big bush and done all your weeding at the same time – that’s not what you asked them to do.”

Tartan53 says: “Shelford Road has been transformed from a lunar landing site to a nice smooth road, just waiting for utilities to now, come and dig it up.”

Freddly quotes: “‘Resurfacing schemes must be prioritised across the county based on need.’ My advice to the council is that all resurfacing should be a low priority; at most, they should resurface 2 metre strips at the sides and the drain recesses.”

Over on our Facebook page, Clare D comments: “It makes me laugh when the roads need resurfacing, which most of them do now, they cause accidents, and instead of repairing the road or resurfacing it, they just lower the speed limit. We don’t want that, we want the roads resurfaced like they used to be.”

Are you surprised by the shocking state of the potholes on Cambridgeshire roads? Comment below or HERE to have your say.

No arrests have been made

A man has been left with ‘life threatening injuries’ after being hit by a car in Stalybridge.

Emergency services were called to Huddersfield Road, in Stalybridge, on Thursday afternoon, August 27, following reports of a collision between a car and a pedestrian.

Pictures from the scene show a large police presence, with an air ambulance also in attendance. A man has since been taken to hospital with life threatening injuries, Greater Manchester Police have said.

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The road remains closed outside St Paul’s Church, on Demesne Drive to the other side of Demesne Drive whilst a cordon remains at the scene.

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police said: “This is an RTC between a car and a pedestrian. Male pedestrian taken to hospital with life threatening injuries.”

No arrests have been made and enquiries are ongoing, the force added.

Passengers are advised their journeys will take longer than usual

No trains will run between London and Peterborough on the bank holiday weekend. While some people may be travelling over the weekend for the bank holiday Monday (August 31), they will need to check their train journeys.

There will be no LNER trains between London Kings Cross and Peterborough on Sunday (August 30) due to “major upgrades” taking place. A LNER spokesperson said: “Further upgrade work as part of the East Coast Digital Programme means there will be no direct LNER trains to or from London King’s Cross on Sunday.

“Most LNER trains will start and terminate at Peterborough, where rail replacement coaches will operate to and from Bedford for onward connections with Thameslink to London St Pancras. Journey times will be extended and routes to other London stations, especially trains from Sheffield and Chesterfield, will be busier than usual.”

A reduced train service will run between Scotland and Peterborough, and Leeds and Peterborough. Passengers are advised that their journeys will take longer than usual.

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