LONDON - A BRITON who was given the world's first permanent artificial heart has died, seven years after the ground-breaking operation, a friend said on Monday.

Peter Houghton had the thumb-sized pump implanted at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford in June 2000 - and died on Nov 25 of multiple organ malfunction at the age of 68, said friend and neighbour John Lloyd.

'Peter was a great guy. He lived the last seven years to the full,' said Mr Lloyd, who works for Heart Research UK, the charity that funded the pioneering intervention.

'Peter saw it as his extra life and he did what he could. Both Peter and I travelled to America together and did a tour around the heart centres. We travelled thousands of miles.'

Mr Houghton had been given just weeks to live when he had the operation to implant the battery-powered pump. Afterwards he devoted much of his life to charity work, becoming chairman of the Heart Failure Foundation.

He 'travelled thousands of miles highlighting the work of the charity,' until his health began to worsen a year ago, said Mr Lloyd. 'In my opinion, he would have lasted longer if he had not tried to be so active.'

The artificial heart, called the Jarvik 2000 and made by New York-based Jarvik Heart Inc., was powered by a cable which ran through his neck and out from behind his ear. A wire ran to a controller and a battery worn on his belt. -- AFP