express crossword

[thistles]

30a Nationality of bearder cleric played by blly conolly in not the nine oclock news I?A?I?N 7 letters, have searched but cannot find the answer, am gartaful to anyone who can help.

[dtgblue]

Iranian

[Zhukov]

Italian?

[bibblebub]

Iranian ? those letters + 'bearded cleric' would make that a fair guess

[thistles]

I realised that both of these would fit the clue, but am ignorant of which oneis the correct one as I did not see the show.

[thistles]

Many thanks to you all for your help, I will go with Iranian.XXXXXXXXXX

[suechu]

I've searched as well, Thistles, to no avail. Would presume Iranian but irritating not to find confirmation!

[dtgblue]

Ayatollah Khomeini
Ayatollah Conolly

[suechu]

However have uncovered some lovely Billy Connolly old stuff along the way on YouTube, so it was worth it!

[bibblebub]

Iranian - appears at about 45s into this clip

[bibblebub]

and even more so at the end

[suechu]

Brilliant well done you bibblebub.

[grmcleod]

Iranian