Look at that man in the picture just above these words. What an absolute don. What a legend of the game.
Wikipedia informs me: “He is the recipient of six Laurence Olivier Awards, a Tony Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a BIF Award, two Saturn Awards, four Drama Desk Awards, and two Critics’ Choice Awards. He has also received two Oscar nominations, four BAFTA nominations and five Emmy Award nominations.”
So, yes, the guy can act.
But he’s also conducted a huge amount of work for charity, as well as being one of the highest profile, and most consistent supporters of, and campaigners for LGBTQ+ rights, coming out in 1988 to protest against the implementation of Section 28, which instructed local authorities not to “intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality” or to “promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship”.
In the wake of this, the Stonewall charity was founded, and Section 28 was eventually repealed, first in Scotland in 2000, and then the rest of the UK in 2003, in no small part due to the campaigning of McKellen and many others like him.
As part of his mission, he visited Woodside High School in Wood Green, north London to congratulate them on being the first London secondary school to achieve the Stonewall Gold Award - given for “tackling homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying and celebrating diversity”.
But not for Sir Ian a normal, dull speech.
No, instead he gave the crowd what they wanted.
Behold:
Yes, that’s right, the man who played Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy did not hesitate in whipping out his most famous line, telling kids: “If you don’t revise for your exams You Shall Not Pass”.
It’s actually not the first time he’s done this, check out a video of him in action below:
But when you’ve got an ace like that in your sleeve, why wouldn’t you use it again?
What a hero.
(Image: Rex)
