The world opera is a world of fat shouting men – and Luciano Pavarotti, who has died aged 71, was the fattest and shoutiest of them all.

This, along with the fact that he sung the theme-tune to the 1990 World Cup, meant that Luciano Pavarotti was the best-known opera singer in the world, and now he’s dead. Luciano Pavarotti’s manager confirmed early this morning that he had lost his battle with pancreatic cancer, a fight which saw him go through five rounds of chemotherapy in the last year alone. Tributes are already pouring in from friends and admirers of Luciano Pavarotti, and they all share the same sad sentiment that the world will be a worse place without Pavarotti in it. And a quieter place. And probably a little bit lighter.