Brian Blessed isn't just a recognisable voice as it seems he's also a budding midwife.
The Flash Gordon actor - known for his booming vocals - has claimed he once "bit" through a woman's umbilical cord to deliver her baby in Richmond Park.
Brian made the startling confession during an interview on BBC Radio 4, claiming the incident took place while he was filming Z Cars in 1963 and had to help the woman welcome her daughter into the world.
He said: "I was in Richmond Park and a woman was having a baby under a tree and there was nobody around. I rushed over to her.
"I told her to breathe deeply and I delivered the baby. I got the afterbirth out, then I bit it loose and tied it into a knot and then I called for help.
"My shirt was covered in blood. I was saying: 'It's alright darling', and I was licking the baby's face."
Asked by Midweek host Libby Purves if it was true, he responded: "Absolutely. I've just never talked about it. But what I'm saying is it was natural.
"You would tell her to breathe deeply and push, push, push, because I'd seen my mother do all this.
"I was always kept in the background, because all the neighbours were kind of midwives."
