Darien Angadi

Who was Darien Angadi?

Darien Robert Kabir Angadi was an English actor.

Darien was the son of painter and novelist Patricia Angadi, and Ayana Angadi, an impecunious Indian writer, intellectual and Trotskyist. Darien was born in Stoke Newington, and attended Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School where he was a prolific performer in school plays. In 1965 whilst at the school, he was a member of the school team for BBC Television's Television Top of the Form. He achieved some fame as a boy treble, recording Benjamin Britten's Noye's Fludde with the Wandsworth School Boys' Choir, and songs by Schubert and Schumann. He sang with the Finchley Children's Music Group and then the London Boy Singers. After his voice broke he turned to acting, achieving success on the stage and in television drama productions, including I, Claudius and Blake's 7. From 1968 until 1971 he was a Choral Scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge. He married Irene Lenihan in 1977.

Angadi committed suicide by hanging. His story was told during a BBC Four documentary on the schools' quiz programme Television Top of the Form on 17 April 2006.