The Empress Building, Mexborough
Friday, 25th October 2024
I have friends all over the world and when I excitedly told them that I was going to see Brian Blessed I was met with silences that made it clear that they had no idea who he was. It was only after I had listed a few of his films that they delivered underwhelming responses to the effect of ‘Oh, okay’. But, despite many foreigners not appreciating him, to me, Brian Blessed is a quintessentially British national treasure, an institution and an icon. A lot of responsibility for one person but I think he fits the bill quite well.
I suppose that being 88 I could have expected him to be the shadow of his former self, showing his age and struggling both mentally and physically to deliver a show that lasted almost two hours but thankfully his stamina and personality is not one for slowing down, surrendering to time or growing old gracefully. Admittedly his hearing was not great but other than that he seemed to be a human dynamo grasping life with both hands and shouting at it until it submits to the power of his will.
Returning to the town of his birth, Mexborough, for a charity event, there was the meet and greet start, of which I was one of the lucky few to have acquired a ticket. I had a quick chat with him and the obligatory photo and then, once all that was done with it was time for the show. And what a show that was. With anecdotes, recited in a mostly booming voice, it made me wonder if there is anything he hasn’t done and anyone he hadn’t met and, if he was to be believed, hadn’t sworn at.
It was a mesmerizing time as he regaled the audience, and kept them in a state of wild laughter, with tales of naked races with Peter O’Toole, being locked up, during his national service, for insulting his drill sergeant and how he advised Stephen Hawking on why he should go into space. Yes, there was plenty of swearing but he made no apologies for that and demonstrated, many times, that he had the type of personality that just didn’t care. In fact he seemed to show that he loved winding people up and the bigger the ego, or status, the more he savoured the opportunity to drag them down a peg or two, but they way he did it just seemed to make him even more endearing.
Other than the initial, and obligatory, references to a certain line in Flash Gordon, there didn’t seem to be that rigid of a script. He would tell a tale, pause as something else came into his head and run off, at top speed and full volume, on a tangent as if the latest anecdote was the most important thing you had ever heard.
After the interval there was the Q&A session and this was just as entertaining and informative. Questions about his training to be an astronaut in Russia revealed his passion for space along with his stamina. Then talk of how he created the character traits of Boss Nass in Star Wars and the rude, but hilarious, reaction that he got from George Lucas. It seemed that everything he said had the ability to have the audience eating out of the palm of his hand and in stitches with laughter and he only truly became serious when someone asked about the secret of his long and happy marriage. As he only lost his wife, of almost 50 years, last year, there was a moment of quiet reflection as he formulated a beautiful and heart-rending response, which demonstrated that he was more than just some two dimensional joker who did nothing but shout and swear. He evidenced that there was a vulnerable and tender side that he didn’t always show but made him worthy of even more admiration and respect.
Brian Blessed is a man who has lived his life to the full without letting fear of anything get in his way, or allowing there to be any regrets. Despite his dotage he still lives with a passion and energy that many half, or even a quarter of his age seem unable to do. Long may he continue to be an inspiration and one of a kind, the world is a better place for him being in it.
Oh, and one last thing, apparently, GORDON’S ALIVE!