Sir Jonathan Miller was knighted in 2002

In an interview with The Guardian newspaper, Sir Jonathan said he felt opera houses had turned their backs on him at the age of 70.

Sir Jonathan, whose operatic works include a Mafia-style Rigoletto for English National Opera, said he has no other productions planned.

He blamed an "obsession" with the new and cutting-edge.

New direction

"If you are as old as I am, you're assumed to be dead - and actually made to be dead in the end," he told the newspaper.

Sir Jonathan, who was a member of Cambridge Footlights and Beyond the Fringe with Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Alan Bennett, added he had always felt undervalued in the UK.

He told the paper he had to persuade the Royal Opera House to take on his recent production of Don Pasquale, which opens on 27 November.

Sir Jonathan, who has carved out a career as a satirist, theatre and opera director, medical consultant and writer, added he had turned his attentions to junk-metal sculpture.