Brian Blessed has "every intention" of going into space

Discussing a typical day, he told the Sunday Times magazine: "For lunch I'll have a cheese omelette and more yoghurts, then it'll be back into my gymnasium to lift some heavy weights.

"Then I'll go to my shed, where I might have invited a sporting or scientific champion over to have a chat.

"I had Stephen Hawking in there once and he said to me, "They want to put me into space, Brian. What do you think?" And I replied, "Well, Stephen, you may as well f******go!"

"I have every intention of going to space too. I'm the oldest person to have trained at Moscow's Star City to become a cosmonaut. The call could come any day."

Despite his advancing years, the 'Flash Gordon' actor is "abnormally fit" and insisted he feels "ageless".

He said: "I'm always in training for something, whether it's another expedition to the magnetic North Pole or Everest, and I bench-press 300lb. I'm a black belt in judo and I've always had huge strength.

"I'm abnormally fit and abnormally cheerful.

"What I find most intolerable is when people make a pact with old age. Don't do it. I feel ageless."

Brian's wife Hildegarde Neil passed away last year and the screen legend - who has daughter Catherine from his first marriage and Rosalind with his late spouse - gets "lonely" at times.

He said: "Breakfast for me will be yoghurt - I eat tons of the stuff. I love Bulgarian yoghurt, although eating alone takes some getting used to.

"I do feel quite lonely at times but I've got lots of friends to talk to. I had a lovely chat with Michael Palin recently at the Royal Geographical Society, as he lost his wife last year too.

" I still feel my wife's presence and continue the adventurous life we used to enjoy together."

However, the 'I, Claudius' star is content ni his own company.

He said: "I eat dinner at about seven, something simple like soup, and then I'm often quite antisocial in the evening.

"I don't have dinner parties, although I do see Kenneth Branagh a lot. We have a father-son relationship - I'm the son.

"But I love my own company.

"I'm a curious mixture of contradictions but I strongly believe that it's important to be mad. To allow yourself to be a bit mad is very healthy."