Britain’s agony aunt dead

LONDON - Claire Rayner, who was Britain’s most widely read agony aunt, is dead. She was 79, a family member said.

Claire campaigned extensively for patients’ rights, Sky News reported Tuesday.

She knew death was imminent so she told relatives that she wanted her last words to be: “Tell (Prime Minister) David Cameron that if he screws up my beloved NHS (National Health Service), I’ll come back and bloody haunt him.”

Explaining the decision to release her final words, her family members said that Claire had discussed them with her loved ones “and the fact that they are rarely what any of us might have chosen”.

Claire’s husband of 53 years, Des Rayner, was quoted as saying: “I have lost my best friend and my soulmate. I am immensely proud of her.”

She was on maternity leave to have her first child when she became a freelance journalist.

She turned into a household name as an agony aunt on problem pages in Britain’s best-selling newspapers and also made numerous appearances on television and radio.

Des said: “Through her work she helped hundreds of thousands of people and doubtless, by talking frankly about the importance of safe sex in the ’80s when almost nobody else would discuss it, helped to save thousands of lives.”