大象传媒

Brian Blessed was born in Mexborough in South Yorkshire, the son of a coal miner and was brought up in the mining community of Goldthorpe.

Now one of the country's most well known actors he trained at the Old Vic Theatre School.

His first break came when he landed the role of 'PC Fancy Smith' in Z Cars. He's since gone on to appear in numerous TV shows and films including I Claudius, The Three Musketeers, Black Adder, Flash Gordon, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves.

He recently created the role of Baron Bomburst in the original cast of the West End musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

He's now as famous for his 'adventures' as his acting and has a love of mountaineering. He always wanted to stand 'on top of the world' and has taken part in three expeditions to Everest, becoming at the age of 65, the oldest man to reach 28,000 feet without oxygen.