Campaign for Brian Blessed to do a voice over for my satnav

Brian Blessed fan Richard Gardner sent us the following report: we are delighted to republish it.

From time to time we all wish our driving experience was either shoutier or more beardy, or preferably both.

This was certainly the opinion of Richard Gardner, when he tried to buy a Brian Blessed voiceover for his TomTom, only to find such an option inexplicably unavailable.

Puzzled, but undeterred, he set up a campaign on Facebook at BrianSatNav.com, to share the idea, enjoy some driving-related Blessed funnies and to provide a forum for like-minded souls to voice support for what will surely be the most iconic cultural artefact since the iPhone.

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As the Brian campaign quickly gathered momentum, he decided to contact the parties necessary for the realisation of his dream: satnav manufacturers and Brian Blessed.

TomTom agreed that if the Facebook group reached 25,000 members it would start talks with Brian Blessed to make it happen.

TomTom spokeswoman Rosie Tickner said: “The interest in the Facebook group has been amazing.

“When Richard initially contacted me three months ago there were only 500 members. If enough people vote to have the Brian Blessed voice, how can we refuse to speak to him about it?”

Brian’s agent agreed it was certainly an idea worth exploring.

With 12,000 fans supporting the project, Richard also thought it might be nice to get Brian Blessed on board, and tentatively approached the great man in the improbable hope that he might agree to do a campaign video. Much to his delight Brian agreed.

The best-selling stars' voices for TomTom have been Homer Simpson, John Cleese and rapper Snoop Dogg, with Billy Connolly and Star Wars voices recently added to the collection. ®