Connery joins board of 'Independent'

Sir Sean Connery, the Oscar-winning actor, has joined the UK board of Independent News & Media, the company that owns The Independent, The Independent on Sunday and The Belfast Telegraph.

The actor, 72, said he was looking forward to contributing to the future development of the newspapers. The appointment came at the suggestion of Sir Anthony O'Reilly, the company's executive chairman and a long-standing friend of the actor.

Sir Sean said: "I admire the titles, which stand as a voice of sanity and integrity in an industry whose standards have given me some cause to complain in the past."

Sir Sean, who reads The Independent on the internet when he is filming around the world, also sits on the board of an educational trust he initiated in Scotland and was formerly on the board of the Dunbar Bank in London. He has strong views on British political and social life and has said he will return to his native Scotland only when it achieves independence. He also recently defended his tax exile status by revealing he has paid £3.7m to the Inland Revenue in the past six years.

Other members of the UK Independent board include Kenneth Clarke, the former chancellor, Ben Bradlee, the former Washington Post editor, Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws, the human rights advocate, Baroness Jay of Paddington, a former leader of the House of Lords, and Andreas Whittam Smith, founding editor of The Independent.