Cynthia Payne: Britain's best-known madam dies aged 82

Britain's most famous madam Cynthia Payne - best-known for hosting a sex party in the 1970s where old men paid with luncheon vouchers for lewd entertainment - has died aged 82, her family said.

"Madame Cyn", as she was nicknamed, was immortalised by films in the 1980s, including one starring Julie Walters.

Family friend Kevin Horkin described her as "a national treasure" and an "extremely colourful archetypal English eccentric".

Mr Horkin added: "She was a person with a very big heart. She is someone who epitomised the phrase 'what you saw is what you got'.

"Her beliefs however, shone through strongly in the campaigning activity she was involved with in order to change Britain's sex laws, publicising the issue when she stood for Parliament on two occasions in the Kensington and Chelsea by-election of 1988 and in the General Election of 1992 in Streatham.

"She is someone who will be very sorely missed by all who knew her."