Yahoo News Brian Blessed shares his version of Three Lions for Lionesses World Cup semi-final
The Flash Gordon star has given the England Women's football team his own special shout out.
Brian Blessed has made a special version of football anthem Three Lions in support of the Lionesses.
As the England Women's team face Australia in the 2023 World Cup semi final, the 86-year-old actor performed a theatrical version of the 1996 pop single.
Blessed gave his rousing rendition on BBC's Newsnight, culminating in a rousing battle cry, to rapturous applause form the live audience.
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The Flash Gordon star roared: "Football's coming home. Come on Lionesses!"
Cry God for Brian. https://t.co/mxlEzt8nr2
— David Baddiel (@Baddiel) August 15, 2023
David Baddiel, who wrote the original single with comedy partner Frank Skinner and Ian Broudie of Brit pop band the Lightening Seeds, shared the version on Twitter.
He wrote: "Cry God for Brian."
Blessed is known for his roles in Star Wars and Blackadder. His acting roles are predominantly voice work these days, using his famous booming tones and theatrical received pronunciation to their best.
He was the voice of Grampy Rabbit in Peppa Pig.
The Lionesses are currently playing Australia's Matildas, and the winner and the winner will take on Spain in the final to claim the 2023 World Cup for their country.
England's women's team beat Germany to win the Women's Euro 2022 final, bringing football home for the first time since the men's team won the World Cup in 1966.
Three Lions was originally recorded for the Euro 1996 tournament, in which England were knocked out in the semi-finals by Germany.
Baddiel has said: "Three Lions is a song about loss: about the fact that England mainly lose. We as fans — as English people — invest an enormous amount in the idea of England, and then, as experience suggests, England let you down.
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“We know this and yet we still — as the 98 version put it — believe. Football fandom is this, it’s magical thinking, it’s hope over experience.”
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