Veteran comedian John Cleese has revealed that he had a successful operation to remove a cancerous tumour last week.

The 80-year-old Fawlty Towers star previously had a prostate cancer scare in 1996, an epiphanic moment that made him "live on the basis that I might at any given moment fall under a bus".

Posting on Twitter, Cleese wrote: "Had a minor operation on Friday. A surgeon cut a small cancerous bit out of my leg. Very minor.

"At my age this sort of thing happens about once a week. He did a beautiful job, sewed it up and said: 'Tis but a scratch.'"

Earlier this year Cleese led tributes to Monty Python co-star Terry Jones following his death after a battle with dementia, praising his "many talents and endless enthusiasm", adding: "Two down, four to go."