What links Freddy Krueger, Mr Bean and one-hit-wonders Wheatus? Why none other than the “human air raid siren” himself, Iron Maiden’s steadfast frontman Bruce Dickinson.

To celebrate Bruce’s 60th birthday today, we’ve pulled together 20 insane facts about the metal veteran. Happy birthday, Bruce!

1.    The least likely musical collaboration ever? In 1992 Bruce Dickinson recorded an Alice Cooper cover with TV character Mr Bean (Rowan Atkinson). A single and video of "(I Want To Be) Elected" was part of a Comic Relief project, hitting the top 10 in the UK Singles Chart.

2.    As a child, Bruce lived with his grandparents, since his parents were constantly traveling around the UK with their performing dog act.

3.    Before his Iron Maiden stint began in 1981, Bruce appeared in the Canadian horror movie Incubus with his former band Samson. A film stinker about a randy demon violating the women of Ontario, Samson feature in a scene set in a movie theatre.

4.    Incubus wasn’t Dickinson’s only inauspicious ‘80s film foray. His solo track “Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter” won a Golden Raspberry for Worst Original Song after appearing in 1989’s A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child. Never one to be discouraged, the Dickinson track was later rejigged for Iron Maiden’s 1990 album No Prayer For The Dying and became the band’s sole UK number one single.

5.    Bruce isn’t Dickinson’s first name – it’s actually Paul.

6.    US act Wheatus, who famously sang “I’ve got two tickets to Iron Maiden baby” in 2000’s smash hit “Teenage Dirtbag”, featured Bruce Dickinson delivering a wordless scream on their 2002 single “Wannabe Gangstar”.

7.    Bruce once bought a Dalek from the BBC programme Dr Who at an auction. Showing a love of lumbering metal beasts, he also owns a T34 Soviet tank and a replica of German World War I flying ace the Red Baron’s Fokker triplane.

8.    Bruce was kicked out of Oundle School after he pissed in baked beans being served to the prefects and his headmaster. 

9.    The school incident wasn’t the last time Bruce expressed his displeasure via urinary vandalism; aggrieved by the sound mix during a 1983 festival set at Westfalenhallen in Dortmund, Germany, Bruce pissed on the mixing desk.

10.    The Number Of The Beast, the first Iron Maiden album featuring Bruce on vocals, knocked Barbra Streisand off the top of the UK album chart in April 1982.

11.    Many Iron Maiden fans will already know Bruce is a fencing expert, having represented Britain at the European Cup in 1989, but his autobiography What Does This Button Do? also reveals Bruce actually swapped from right-handed to left-handed combat after a decade of training. 

12.    Iron Maiden won their first Grammy in 2011, earning a Best Metal Performance nod for The Final Frontier’s song “El Dorado”. The track was Iron Maiden’s 41st single and came almost 30 years after Dickinson joined the band. 

13.    Bruce has suggested he decided to leave Iron Maiden in 1993 after reading the Henry Miller quote, “All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous unpremeditated act without the benefit of experience”, in a newspaper’s Quote Of The Day column. He returned to the fold in 1999.

14.    In July 1992 Iron Maiden were banned from performing in the Chilean capital of Santiago after the Catholic Church labeled them ‘devils’ and ‘Satanists’.

15.    While recording 1983’s Piece Of Mind album with Iron Maiden on the island of Jersey, Bruce kept himself conditioned by training with local fencing clubs. He later took fencing lessons from Errol Flynn’s fighting double, Ralph Faulkner.

16.    Bruce isn’t the only elite sportsman in his family. Sister Helena Stormanns is a world champion show jumper.

17.    In What Does This Button Do?, Bruce suggests his solo 2005 album Tyranny Of Souls began life as a Three Tenors style project featuring himself, Rob Halford and Ronnie Dio, but due to management disagreements, the planned recording never got off the ground. The proposed vocal trio were to be billed as ‘The Three Tremors’.

18.    Finding a more lucrative way to while away the tour downtime hours than developing a heroin habit, Bruce wrote his first novel, The Adventures Of Lord Iffy Boatrace, while on the Somewhere In Time tour during 1986 and 1987. The book was published in 1990.

19.    A short time after Bruce joined Iron Maiden in 1981, the band played a gig as Genghis Khan at their favourite pub, the Ruskin Arms. A track by the name of “Genghis Khan” featured on 1981 album Killers, the final Iron Maiden album featuring Dickinson’s vocal predecessor Paul Di’Anno. 

20.    When not wowing fans across the world as Iron Maiden’s energetic frontman, Bruce keeps his diary filled with a variety of projects. In between piloting commercial aircraft, the last 20 years have seen him also hosting radio shows, making TV specials (on topics including Spontaneous Human Combustion) and writing the 2008 film based on the exploits of black magic expert Aleister Crowley, Chemical Wedding. 

For more amazing Bruce Dickinson facts, check out the vocalist’s fantastic autobiography What Does This Button Do? – or catch one of his upcoming Aussie Q&A events discussing the book!

MELBOURNE
Friday 19th October – Palais Theatre (All Ages)  
 
CANBERRA
Sunday 21st October – Llewellyn Hall (All Ages) 
 
NEWCASTLE
Tuesday 23rd October – Civic Theatre (All Ages) 
 
BRISBANE
Wednesday 24th October – Eatons Hill Hotel (All Ages) 

All tickets and info can be found here.  
 

Listen to our I Like: Iron Maiden playlist on Spotify...