British actor William Morgan Sheppard, the voice of Firaxis’ Civilization V, has died. He was 86.



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Sheppard’s career spanned six decades, across TV, theatre, film and video games, and included appearances in everything from Doctor Who to Star Trek to Medal of Honor, whose earlier games he provided the briefings:

But it’s his role as Civilization V’s narrator that will perhaps be best-known to readers. Civ fans spend so long playing the games, and hear tech discovery lines so often that they start to burrow themselves deep into the subconscious.

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An example: his reading of German writer Jean Paul’s “Men, like bullets, go farthest when they are smoothest” is absolutely fundamental to my memories of Civilization V.

He is survived by his wife, son and three grandchildren.