At three and a half years old, here, i caught polio. There was an epidemic at that time. They said, stephen wont live through this. But during those years in and out of hospital, he developed a passion for music, and after a spell as a journalist, he began trying out his songs at folk clubs before finally hitting the big time. But when his chart success began to slide, his attention shifted to another musical avenue. Sing once again with me. He was given the chance to record the single for andrew lloyd webber s phantom of the opera, but he was devastated when he wasnt chosen to play the role for the west end. Youve done it all, broken every code. Nevertheless, he continued to perform. The effects of his childhood polio were lifelong, but onstage in the spotlight he said it was the one place he could forget it all and simply be steve harley, the rock star. Ooh ooh, la la la. That is David Sillito looking back at the life of steve harley, the front man of Cockney Rebel who has died at th
Shes urged the west not to recognise what will be putins fifth term as president. Our russia editor, steve rosenberg, is in moscow with more. Russias democracy is the best in the world, the kremlin says. And at Polling Station 38 in moscow, we found a choice of candidates and plenty of voters. Democracy in action, right . Not quite. Realistically, only one man can win this. Vladimir putin the man whos been on russias political stage for the last quarter of a century. Vladimir putin faces no serious challenger. His fiercest rivals are in exile or in prison. Not that this woman, whose son is fighting in ukraine, wants any change at the top. Of course i voted for putin, she says. I trust him. But not everyone who came out today was actually voting. This, one of a string of attacks on Polling Stations across russia. They are unprecedented. After chaotic scenes here. An arsonist is detained. And green ink poured into a ballot box. The authorities called the attackers scum. Some voters were
Outcome was never in doubt. Vladimir putin is expected to win the vote that will keep his grip on power through 2030 he has already russias longestserving ruler since soviet dictator joseph stalin. Weve got full coverage for you. Cnns may chances in moscow. Fred pleitgen is in berlin and also with this cnn contributor and former Moscow Bureau chief, jill dougherty, matthew, lets begin with you. Despite the lack of opposition, there were acts of defiance, werent there today there have been quite a few actually, but louk, the preliminary results are just coming in and that theyre very high, which is expected. Were looking at something in the region of 88 votes for Vladimir Putin. Thats with about 25 of the votes counted. And a turnout of well over 70 . So these are extraordinary high results, even by the standards of an election of Vladimir Putin. But youre right, its not been a totally unified and stable election period that has been a lot of defiance, acts of defiance at Polling Statio
Had called on people to turn out at midday in moscow and other cities to spoil their ballots or vote for any other candidate. These were the scenes in moscow. Thereve been no Protest Chants the authorities warned that activists could be arrested. A Rights Monitoring Group in russia says more than 70 people have been detained. Vladimir putin is almost certain to win, giving him another six years in power. The kremlin has ensured he faces no credible opponent. Protests were also held at russian embassies abroad. Mr navalny s widow, yulia, was among those queuing outside the Russian Embassy in berlin to vote. There have been demonstrations in the uk, france, tokyo and georgia. With me is the bbc s Vitaly Shevchenko. Thank you for being with us. Third and final day of voting, give us a sense of the picture in russia. People are voting and queues did form at a greater number of Polling Stations, as far as we can tell. The opposition had called for its supporters to come at noon to Polling S