• Actor Thelma Ruby vows protest if expansion approved
• All England Club seeking green light for 39 new courts

A 99-year-old actor has threatened to “chain myself to the grounds” of the All England Club if controversial plans to build 39 new tennis courts at Wimbledon are approved on Friday.

Thelma Ruby, who has appeared with Orson Welles and Judi Dench on stage and lives in a flat overlooking the club, said she was determined to take a stand on environmental grounds. Asked whether she was worried about being arrested, Ruby replied: “No, I’m 99. Let them arrest me.”