Brian Blessed 'threw away a Picasso worth £50m'

Brian Blessed - actor, raconteur, loud of voice and ridiculous of story - has struck again.

Just weeks after unleashing the ridiculous anecdote that he once helped deliver a baby in Richmond Park, biting through the umbilical chord and licking the child's face clean, he has now told an amazing story of throwing away a Picasso original worth £50m as he didn't like it.

Aged 14, Blessed met the famous artist in Sheffield, where he was appearing at the 1950 World Peace Conference. Boldly going up to the Spaniard, he asked him whether or not he actually was the artist, saying that he sounded 'more like [samba singer] Carmen Miranda' and demanding that he prove his identity by drawing something for him.

Picasso was intrigued and agreed, drawing him a dove of peace. However, young Brian was not impressed.

'I said, that shows you are not Picasso, that's not a dove.' Blessed told The Sunday Telegraph. 'Picasso replied, "For the first time I have a critic, the child does not believe this is a dove." I threw his drawing on the floor and in doing so threw away about £50m.' 

The sketch now resides in a gallery in Sheffield after another person wisely picked it up. Works by Picasso have sold for tens of millions, with his most valuable being the £115m Les femmes d'Alger/Women of Algiers (Version O), which sold in May earlier this year (below).

Don't ever change, Brian, you brilliant, crazy man.

(Image: Rex)