Age: 53.
Appearance: Short. Although in the 80s, his locks flowed down past his shoulders.
Remind me why? Because he was – and is once more – the lead singer of Iron Maiden. He rejoined the band in 1999.
Run! Live to flyyyyyyy! It's funny you've chosen –
Flyyyy to liiiiiive! As I was saying, it's funny you've chosen –
Doooo or diiiiiiiie! – to quote those aviation-themed lyrics from Iron Maiden's Aces High, since aviation is very much our focus today.
Oh yes? Yes. Dickinson has just set up an aircraft repair business.
Gosh. Do I have your permission to make a crap joke? If you must.
Bruce Dickinson not only sings heavy metal … but he also repairs it. Yes, very good.
Thank you! Anyway, this is all most unexpected. For those in the know, it's not actually. Dickinson learned to fly passenger planes in the early 90s, and a decade later flew Boeing 757s for the now kaput British charter airline Astraeus. Flights have included transporting Rangers FC to a cup-tie in Israel.
What a renaissance man. Indeed. In 2009, Intelligent Life named him one of the top five living polymaths.
What else can he do? He can fence: he was once the seventh-best fencer in Britain, and has competed internationally.
En garde! He's also a published novelist.
Really? Yep. In the late 80s, he wrote a novel about a Scottish aristocrat called Iffy Boatrace who has an addiction to grouse-hunting. Its German title implies it is less strait-laced than the synopsis would suggest.
And what is that? Lord Iffy und die Sex-Maschine.
Extraordinary. In 1993, Dickinson followed that up with The Missionary Position, which sees Iffy turn his hand to TV evangelism.
Is there no end to his talents? Not really. He co-wrote the screenplay for the 2008 film Chemical Wedding, and has also written an as yet unperformed "rock-opera" based on the life of the violinist Paganini.
Do say: "Fly, on your way, like an eagle / Fly as high as the Sun."
Don't say: "What, like Icarus?"
