Brian Blessed has claimed that he “bit” through an umbilical cord as he helped to deliver a baby girl under a tree in London’s Richmond Park.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4, the 78-year-old actor also said that he licked the newborn’s face afterwards.

Presenter Libby Purves appeared surprised by the admission and challenged aspects of it, but the Yorkshireman said he had seen his mother deliver babies.

Actor Brian Blessed
Actor Brian Blessed (Yui Mok/PA)

The birth took place in 1963 when Brian was best known for playing Pc Fancy Smith in popular BBC cop series Z-Cars.

Talking about the incident, he said: “I rushed across to her and she was having the baby and had her legs open. She knew me in Z-Cars. She said ‘please Mr Blessed, I’m having a baby’. I said ‘breathe deeply’ and gradually I got the baby out.”

He continued: “I delivered it in Richmond Park and the afterbirth came out, and the clots, I got rid of the clots. Then I got the afterbirth out, then I bit it loose then I tied it into a knot, and then I just called for help and eventually an ambulance came.”

The Flash Gordon star recalled that he was covered in blood. “I was wrapping her, wiping her… And I was licking the baby’s face,” he said.

The cast of Z-Cars, Moira Armstrong (left), Robert Keegan, Frank Windsor and Brian Blessed (right)
The cast of Z-Cars, Moira Armstrong (left), Robert Keegan, Stratford Johns, Frank Windsor and Brian Blessed (right) (PA)

Following the interview, Brian has been trending on Twitter. Some users posted tweets of amazement at what they’d heard.

Many others expressed relief after at first fearing he was trending due to death.

Look out for an appearance from Brian during Book Week Scotland 2015, which runs from November 23 to 29.