Brian Blessed: My mother said if I wanted a sibling I must collect milk bottle tops... I got sackloads, and on cue my brother arrived

By Yvonne Swann for MailOnline
Updated:


Here I am, aged 11, having just failed my 11-plus exam with gusto.

I grew up in a mining village called Goldthorpe, near Barnsley in Yorkshire. I adored my infants’ school, Highgate, which stood a hundred yards from my house in Probert Avenue. Those were thrilling, magical years for a small boy.

By the time I was three or four the Germans were attacking us and Sheffield was on fire. You could see the glow in the sky. In the village we had a prisoner of war camp full of Italians, who became my friends and who cheered when I ran to tell them Hitler had died.

Brian Blessed: 'Here I am, aged 11, having just failed my 11-plus exam with gusto'

Brian Blessed: 'Here I am, aged 11, having just failed my 11-plus exam with gusto'

Inside our house there was always a roaring fire, a kettle boiling and the old wooden radio tuned to the BBC.

When my father – a big man and my hero – came back from the mines he was always covered in dust and bruises. Before supper he’d wash in the bath, which had barely any enamel on it, and I’d help scrub his back.

The rigidity of junior school shocked me at first. What I loved best was running free in the countryside with my friends collecting newts, butterflies and toads.

I was also very athletic and known for climbing and jumping off bridges. I was good at English and we studied Shakespeare from the age of eight.

By then I had a baby brother, Alan. I earned him. My mother told me if I wanted a new baby I must collect milk bottle tops. I got sackloads, and on cue my brother arrived.

I filled in my 11-plus exam paper in seconds. I just drew dinosaurs all over it. I wanted to get away quickly – I had ponds to visit.

No qualifications: The actor had to leave school at 14 because his father got injured in the mines and he had to support his family

No qualifications: The actor had to leave school at 14 because his father got injured in the mines and he had to support his family

I wasn’t good at examinations, but I went to a very good secondary school – Bolton-on-Dearne – with wonderful teachers, who taught me drama and encouraged me in every way.

I began to really love my school after performing the role of Rumpelstiltskin – using a strange, deep-throated voice and moving with gymnastic leaps and bounds – in a school play. My efforts were greeted with loud approval. One teacher, Mr Jones, even told my mother that I was a good actor. ‘What is acting, Sir?’ I asked.

‘Well, you’d better find out, Blessed!’ He smiled.

In 1950, When I was 13, the World Peace Congress was held in Sheffield. Picasso was there to show solidarity – although I was sure he must be an imposter and told him, ‘If you really are Picasso, draw me something.’

In seconds, he drew me a dove of peace just like one that sold for £20 million last year. I was not impressed and said, ‘I’ll draw you a dove.’ I turned his drawing down and brought home my own ‘far better’ effort. My father wouldn’t talk to me for a fortnight!

I had to leave school at 14 because my father got injured in the mines and I had to support my family. I was an undertaker’s assistant, then a plasterer, before doing my military service in the RAF. All the while I was doing amateur dramatics and dreaming of getting a scholarship to the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

When it came time to fill out the application form, I had no qualifications, so I just wrote in the date and signed my name. But I got in and never looked back.

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