Brian Blessed found it "rather nice" to stop speaking for 24 hours

He tweeted earlier this week: "GORDON’S ALIVE!!! AND SO AM I! Ahhh, that felt good! Yesterday's 24 hour silence was rather nice actually, but now I’m back AND I CAN TALK AS MUCH AS I LIKE! Thank you to all who supported me to help the people of Nepal.(sic)"

Despite his noisy reputation, the 'Flash Gordon' star meditates twice a day and insisted he really "loves to be silent".

Brian spent his day in silence at home with wife Hildegard Neil tending to his hens and playing with his dogs, writing, and sitting in the garden.

While the 'Blackadder' star may claim to enjoy silence, he had heralded the charity task as the "toughest challenge" of his life so far.

He'd written on his JustGiving page ahead of the event: "I have decided to take on the toughest challenge of my life so far.

"On Sunday 13th June 2021, I will be embarking on a 24 hour sponsored silence. You may happen to know that I am rather partial to using this little voice of mine and so I am not expecting it to be a very easy day for me!

"Some of you may have recently seen in the news that although the Covid-19 crisis is easing here in the UK, it is getting significantly worse in other countries including Nepal. A country I am very fond of. I have had huge affection for the people of Nepal ever since my many wonderful adventures there and my three attempts to climb the mighty Mount Everest.

"Since 2015, I have been a proud patron of a fantastic Nepal charity, PHASE Worldwide, and this challenge will be a part of their new Start Strong Appeal, supporting mothers and children through difficult times such as this to give them a strong start in life."