WHEN actor and adventurer Brian Blessed first came to the Lake District as an 11 year old he admits he was "mesmerised" by the scenery and the opportunity to climb Helvellyn.
Blessed was in the county again in 2001, as president of the Council For National Parks, to witness at first hand the trauma caused by the foot and mouth outbreak.
Cumbria has just been through another disaster-the November floods which devastated large parts of Keswick, Cockermouth and Workington.
This time Brian was on Broadway, appearing in Peter and the Wolf with the New York Symphony Orchestra, when news filtered through about the floods in Cumbria.
The opportunity to help with the recovery programme of the area Blessed calls "God's own country," came sooner than expected with a phone call to the larger than life actor's agent asking if he would be willing to appear in a fund raising concert in Keswick on February 3rd.
Blessed immediately agreed, then went further by pledging his next Everest expedition to Cumbria and the county's flood recovery fund.
Blessed, at the age of 74 and a half, aims to become the oldest person to have climbed the world's highest mountain.
 | A massive challenge for a man half that age, but Brian, who will be appearing at Keswick's Theatre by the Lake with singer Lesley Garrett in a special concert for the flood recovery fund, is determined to show that age is no bar to adventure. |
In fact the distinguished actor, whose career has spanned six decades, is willing to continue his support for the county for years to come if his help is needed.
Blessed first came to Keswick when he was just 11 years old. The Yorkshire born actor remembers riding his green Raleigh bike through the Dales and on to Kendal and Keswick. "The Lakes mesmerised me," he said."
Brian is a former president of the Council of National Park and came up to Cumbria in 2001 when the county was devastated by the foot and mouth outbreak and pyres of burning dead cattle were seen in the fields.
"Cumbria and Wales were stricken places," he recalled. "It was just like a nuclear zone. I was horrified when I saw what had happened to my beloved Cumbria."
Last November Brian was appearing on Broadway in Peter and the Wolf with the New York Symphony Orchestra when news filtered through of the shocking damage caused by the floods.
"It was absolutely horrific," he said. "It was hard to believe what was happening again to this wonderful area where I came as a lad on my bike to climb Helvellyn. To hear what went on shocked me. But the people showed tremendous bravery and you can't praise the services like the police, fire and Mountain Rescue enough.
"A policeman gave his life. The police often get a bad press, but it's just not right. When I heard about the efforts being made by these services I wanted to get up there and not just do this concert in Keswick, but also spend the next few years helping where I can.
"I plan to climb Everest again in the Spring of next year and raise money for the fund. Hopefully I will be able to get one of the newspapers to support the climb because Cumbrians deserve help. They are the salt of the earth; artistic and brave people whose efforts in times of trouble have been astronomical."
Blessed said: "I love adventure. The greatest danger is not taking on adventure. I hate it when people in their forties make a pact with old age. I still do two and a half hours of weights and run up to ten miles every day and I am as fit as I was when I was 30."
The actor said: "Someone phoned my agent's office about doing the concert and I said yes with a capital Y straight away. I am very enthusiastic and look forward to telling the audience a few theatrical stories, talking about Everest, the magic of Cats, reading poetry and saying what I think about Cumbria. It will be a cheerful evening with lots of fun and depth.
"After being president of the National Park I feel we don't blow our trumpet often enough. Nobody looks after National Parks like we do and I feel that Cumbria is the essence of this."
Brian has climbed some of the world's highest peaks, such as Aconcagua in Argentina and Kilimanjiro in Tanzania, and was the oldest man to trek on foot to the North Pole. He has also adventured deep into the jungles of Venezuala. "Everest will be an impossible climb, but I am always going for the impossible," he said.
"I don't consider myself to be a climber," he says modestly. "That's Bonington and Doug Scott. I am not a gifted mountaineer like those men, but I have always loved challenges and helping with the Cumbria project is a great adventure."
The son of a Yorkshire miner, he climbed Mont Blanc at the age of 17. After leaving the local Secondary Modern School he tried various jobs, including undertaker and plasterer, before training as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Training School.
His first TV role was as Fancy Smith in the legendary Z Cars series. "It was a fantastic programme with great scripts. Huge actors like Olivier and Kenneth More begged for parts in it."
Brian has always been a sports fan ever since his father taught Fred Trueman to bowl his cutter, and since Manchester United came to his local village with the FA Cup when he was a kid. He also remembers holidays in the North East and meeting Newcastle United legend Jackie Milburn. "Adventurers were on the radio all the time then and I dreamed of adventures," he said
Apart from returning to Everest, Brian had one more final frontier-space. He has trained for 200 hours at the space centre in Moscow and his ambition is to take a trip to the international space station. "I've loved space since I was a child," he said. "We are children of stardust and don't just belong here. The earth will be saved by going out. We have some brilliant scientists and pilots, but they don't encourage sciences."
Brian lives in Surrey with his wife, the actress Hildegarde Neil, and surrounded by over 2,000 animals in their sanctuary.
He has been variously described as boisterous, booming and king-sized. But behind the actor's role, there is a charming, caring, not at all egotistical man who is ready and willing to put his considerable talent at the disposal of Cumbrians who are still reeling from the impact of a second disastrous event in a decade.
