Anecdotes

As a reference to his loud booming voice, York University voted in 2011 to name its newly-built study centre "Brian Blessed Centre for Quiet Study".

He has been close friends with Patrick Stewart since childhood, when the two (both with a love of theatre) would hitch on coal wagons to London in order to see plays.

He is the oldest person to have reached both the geographical North Pole and the magnetic North Pole.

At age 14, he attended the Second World Peace Congress held in Sheffield during November 1950, where he encountered Pablo Picasso, challenging him to draw something. The artist penned a dove of peace, which the young Blessed scorned before sketching a similar bird himself and presenting it to an amused Picasso. Blessed would not accept Picasso's offer of his picture, thereby unwittingly earning his father's wrath.

As a child, he and his friends used to play at "Flash Gordon", inspired by the Buster Crabbe serial films. In these childhood games, Brian would always play "Vultan", leader of the Hawkmen. In the cult science fiction film Flash Gordon (1980), he played the same role as he had in childhood.

He was nearly killed when filming his death scene in Robin des Bois, prince des voleurs (1991).

In Flash Gordon (1980), his character, Prince Vultan, says "Who wants to live forever?" during the battle between the Hawkmen and Ming's Imperial Fleet. This later became the title of a Queen song on the soundtrack for Highlander (1986).

He frequently gives up his time to appear at fan conventions for different series in which he has appeared.

He attempted to climb Mount Everest three times.

He has become notorious for his unrestrained delivery of expletives during live television appearances.

He befriended Keanu Reeves while filming Beaucoup de bruit pour rien (1993) and taught him about meditation.

He was Kenneth Branagh's original choice to play Odin in Thor (2011). The role went to Anthony Hopkins.

Patrick Stewart suggested Blessed for the role of Admiral Doughtery in Star Trek : Insurrection (1998), which went to Anthony Zerbe.

He has appeared in four films directed by Kenneth Branagh: Henry V (1989), Beaucoup de bruit pour rien (1993), Hamlet (1996) and Comme il vous plaira (2006).

He has completed Cosmonaut training and is first reserve to travel to the International Space Station. He plans to travel there in 2014.

He was nominated for the 1981 Olivier Award for 'Best Actor in a Musical' for his stage performance in 'Cats'.

He had a love-hate relationship with Peter O'Toole that lasted for thirty years.

He was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2016 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to the arts and charity in Surrey, England.

He has starred opposite his real-life wife Hildegard Neil in King Lear (1999) (which he also directed) and the short film Mr. Bojagi (2009).

He accidentally knocked out Peter Capaldi while filming The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1997).

He befriended Katharine Hepburn while filming Les Troyennes (1971).

He was forced to leave a touring production of "King Lear" in January 2015 due to heart problems.

Because of his ever present beard and deep booming voice, he is often confused for actor John Rhys-Davies.

A trained opera singer who while loving singing much prefers acting.

Has stated he prefers climbing and exploration over acting.

He and Nick Brimble appeared together in the Cosmos 1999 (1975) episode The Metamorph (1976), many years before appearing together in Robin des Bois, prince des voleurs (1991).

Blessed is a patron of PHASE Worldwide, which works to improve education, healthcare and livelihoods in remote areas of Nepal.

Blessed was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to the arts and charity.

He is the father of Catherine Blessed and Rosalind Blessed.

He is embarrassed by his guest role in Cygnus Alpha (1978), as he felt that his performance was too over-the-top.

His younger brother Alan, seven years his junior, died in 1996 at age 52.

During the 1980s, he was often linked in the UK press to the role of the Doctor in Docteur Who (1963) when the role became vacant.

His role of Augustus Caesar in Moi Claude empereur (1976) won him the New York Critics Award.

He was considered for the role of Dr. Bukovsky in the science fiction horror film Lifeforce - L'étoile du mal (1985), which went to Michael Gothard.

He was considered for many guest roles in Docteur Who (1963): Grugger in "Meglos", Login in "Full Circle", Richard Mace in "The Visitation", Captain Stapley in "Time Flight", Ranulf in "The King's Demons", Vorshak in "Warriors of the Deep", Lytton in "Resurrection of the Daleks", Russell in "Attack of the Cybermen", The Governor in "Vengeance on Varos", Shockeye in "The Two Doctors", Merdeen in "The Trial of a Time Lord: The Mysterious Planet" and Sabalom Glitz in "The Trial of a Time Lord". He would eventually play Lord Ycranos in "The Trial of a Time Lord: Mindwarp". He was also going to make a cameo as his Z Cars (1962) role PC Fancy Smith in The Feast of Steven (1965), but this was vetoed by the producers. He was originally cast as Odin in The Girl Who Died (2015), but had to drop out due to illness.

He has two roles in common with his Hamlet (1996) co-star Charlton Heston: (1) Heston played King Henry VIII in Le prince et le pauvre (1977) while Blessed played him in The Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything (1999) and Henry 8.0 (2009) (2) Blessed played Long John Silver in John Silver's Return to Treasure Island (1986) while Heston played him in L'île au trésor (1990).

Trained as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which is one of the most selective drama schools (as well as school of any kind) in the world. To be admitted onto the three-year BA acting course, the theatre school accepts 28 out of approximately 2,500 applications. This would equate to an acceptance rate of around 1%.

He is a Gloucester Foil Fencing Champion.

Stated a favourite film he could rewatch again and again was Sergey Bondarchuk's Guerre et paix (1965) (War and Peace").

Sang "I Still Suits Me" with Paul Robeson at the Second World Peace Congress in Sheffield, 1950.

He was considered for the role of Governor Ratcliffe in Pocahontas : Une légende indienne (1995).

Appearing in Shakespeare on stage together, Blessed took to goosing John Gielgud for fun. "He's a terrible man, " Gielgud would confide to fellow actors, "but he's a lovely bit of rough".