Seize The Day! Dame Judi Dench Gets A Tattoo

As if we couldn’t love her any more than we already do, our favourite Dame has gone and smashed social standards and got herself a badass tattoo at the grand old age of 81.

Some might ask, ‘How old is too old for one to be branded with a needle and ink?’ Well, Judi has just answered that silly question for us and proved age aint nothin’ but a number.

The cool James Bond star debuted her new inking at a gala to celebrate the 60th anniversary of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. And, as she shook the Earl of Wessex’s hand with enviously manicured nails, the latin phrase ‘carpe diem’ jumped out from beneath her jangly bracelets in thick capital letters.

Copyright: Wrenn

Speaking about the etching, Judi told Surrey Life magazine that it was a gift from her only daughter, Finty Williams, and she was delighted with the surprise.

She said: “That’s my motto: 'Seize the day. Finty gave it to me for my 81st birthday - she’s wonderful with surprises.”

Not all actors are as bright as Judi though and the star revealed some of her colleagues on the set of her forthcoming movie thought 'carpe’ meant 'fish’.

She added: “Good, isn’t it? Mind you, the company of A Winter’s Tale, which I was doing at the time, used to say that it said fish of the day.”

The veteran star isn’t adverse to a bit of body art and had sticky diamanté in the shape of '007’ slapped onto her neck for the premiere of James Bond flick Skyfall last year.

Copyright: Wenn

Other aged stars to head down to their local tattoo parlour are David Dimbleby – who had a scorpion inked on his shoulder when he was 75 – and Felicity Kendal, who braved her first of many tattoos when she was 63. Dame Helen Mirren, 70, also has interlocking V’s on her left hand, which she says reminds her to love her neighbour but admitted she got it when she was “very drunk” in her youth!