Bruce Dickinson beyond Iron Maiden: 10 curiosities
If the Iron Maiden They are so loved, the merit is also of their frontman. Bruce Dickinson’s charism is not just a fact of voice and stage: he is one of the most multifaceted characters on the music scene. Last year he released his seventh solo album, “The Mandrake Project” (here our review), while the next one will return to Italy with the Maiden for a historical live: the first heavy metal concert never organized in San Siro. POtremo tell anecdotes about him for hours, but let’s start with ten.
1. Line pilot
Bruce Dickinson is a qualified Boeing pilot. He worked for the British airline Astraeus Airlines. But, be careful: he did not limit himself to piloting. Has also founded an aeronautical maintenance and training company, the Cardiff Aviation (today Caerdav), which offers pilots training and maintenance for airlines. Despite Dickinson’s enthusiasm and fame, the company has had several problems: delays in the start of the operations; financial difficulties; Complications with partnerships. Today it continues to exist as a maintenance and aeronautical training company, albeit downsized compared to Dickinson’s initial dream of having an international aeronautical “hub” in Wales.
2. He saved fellow citizens
In the control cabin, personally piloted a plane to evacuate British citizens from Lebanon during the war. In July 2006, during the war between Israel and Hezbollah, many foreign civilians remained blocked in Beirut and in the surrounding areas, including hundreds of British citizens. In that crisis situation, the Astreaus Airlines airline was hired by the British government to help evacuate compatriots. It was Dickinson who piloted one of the planes sent to rescue the civilians: a Boeing 757 that transported hundreds of British citizens from the Middle East towards Cyprusfrom which they could then return to the United Kingdom. The Maiden frontman has always told the story without having too much importance, saying that they have simply done their work, but for those on board and in that context of bombings and tension, it was a very significant gesture.
3. Porta the Maiden on tour
The band’s official plane? THE’And Force Onea personalized Boeing 747. The pilot? Bruce Dickinson, of course. The plane, baptized in honor of the band’s mascot, Eddie, has become a symbol of their great world tours. After using a Boeing 757 from 2008 to 2011, for The “The Book of Souls World Tour” The band chose a larger plane: a Boeing 747-400. This “new” and Force One could carry about 20 tons of material, as well as more than 70 staff members and the band. The choice was made because the stage and the sets of the tour were too large and heavy for a 757.
4. Professional shielder
It was a competitive shielder at national level in the United Kingdom. He discovered the boy’s fencing during school years, and was fascinated by the technical aspect and the elegance of sport, as well as by the mental challenge he involves. Has come to classify to the 7th place in the ranking British in the foil discipline. He also participated in European competitions, even without reaching important international qualifications. In the 90s he founded a fencing club In London, the Duellists Fencing Club, to promote this sport. It still happens to find him to train on the platform, like last July, at the Comini Academy of Fencing in Padua.
5. It survived cancer
On May 15, 2015 he announced that he was healed by a language cancer. In December 2014, during some medical checks of routine, a language carcinoma was diagnosed in Dickinson (in particular, two small tumors located at the back of the language and in the lymph nodes area). The discovery reached the end of the recordings of “The Book of Souls”, the sixteenth album of the Iron Maiden: therefore the disease was found just in time, before the start of the tour. He had to face a combined chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment, which lasted about 7 weeks. During the convalescence he had to re -tear to swallow and speak normally. The live activity was suspended until 2016, to allow him full recovery.
6. Author of books
He wrote novels and an autobiography (“What Does This Button Do?”) Where he tells himself firsthand, as well as screenplays for TV and cinema. It is not a traditional biography: Bruce has chosen to tell episodes and reflections in a free way, almost as if he spoke directly to the reader. No private life: only public and professional life.
7. Radio conductor and TV
He worked for the BBC as conductor of radio programs and musical documentaries. From 2002 to 2010 he led a weekly radio program on BBC Radio 6 Music, heir of the legendary “Friday Rock Show” by Tommy Vance. It was a transmission dedicated to rock and Heavy Metal, with interviews, guests and a lot of music personally chosen by him. Over the years he has participated as a conductor or narrator in some special television, especially the theme of aviation and history. An example is “Flying Heavy Metal“(2005, broadcast by BBC and Discovery Channel UK), a miniseries in which Bruce told the evolution of commercial planes, piloting and interviewing experts.
8. Degree in History
Before dedicating himself completely to music, he obtained a degree in history at the Queen Mary University of Londonin 1979. On July 19, 2011 he received a university from the same university Honoris cause in music. Just at the university he began to emerge as a singer, first in small local groups, until he reached the band Samson, the trampoline that led him to the Iron Maiden. His historical formation influenced a lot the texts he would have written later: Alexander The Great (on the Macedonian Empire); The Trooper (Crimea war); Aces High (Battle of England); Passediondale (First World War).
9. Official beer
Has collaborated with an English brewery to create the “Trooper”, the Official Iron Maiden beersold all over the world. It was theAngled in 2013, in collaboration with the historic English brewery Robinsons Brewerry (founded in 1838 in Stockport). Bruce Dickinson, a great traditional beer enthusiast, actively participated in the recipe, wanting to create a product that he really liked to fans of the band but that was also synonymous with quality, not only of marketing.
10. Brilliant mind
It is co-inventor of a new type of shift for shielders with advanced material. Participated in Engineering projects To develop an airlander, a hybrid between airship and plane. Is often invited to keep conferences for companies, universities and international conferencesspeaking of leadership, resilience and motivation, with examples taken from both music and flight.
