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As Sherlock turns 40, let's take a closer look at the wonder that is Benedict Cumberbatch.

1. He does impressions.

Okay, they’re not that

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yebhPXh58cw

2. His genuinely terrifying near death experience.

While filming BBC series To The Ends Of The Earth in 2005 in South Africa, Benedict and his two co-stars were victims of a terrifying car-jacking. When the tyre on their car blew, there were ambushed by six men, held at gunpoint and Benedict was tied up and put in the car boot. He says that the three-hour ordeal has turned him into an adrenalin junkie.

3. The man has got some serious moves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSgdyNZABt0

4. It’s Cumberpeople, actually…

Benedict’s legion of female fans have taken to calling themselves Cumberbitches, which is something the lovely and senstive actor has a problem with.’It’s not even politeness,’ he told Caitlin Moran in an interview for The Times. ‘I won’t allow you to be my bitches. I think it sets feminism back so many notches. You are… Cumberpeople.‘





5. He reads a fairytale beautifully.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fymrdWz0csU

6. He’s a real softie.

At the premiere of Star Trek Into Darkness, Benedict got all choked up. ‘When I heard them saying nice things on the red carpet… that was the thing that really struck [me] to my core, and it got to a point – it was like a tipping point, I’d say, where I was signing something [and] I heard Zachary [Quinto] saying something very complimentary about me and I started to cry. I was looking down and signing and this fan said, “Are you OK?” I said, “Yeah, it’s really windy out here, my eyes are stinging.”‘

7. He can sing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDX8u1YGCM8

8. He’s sensitive about his hair… aren’t we all.

‘You could stick a knife in my thigh, and I wouldn’t tell you. [But] pull the hair on my head the wrong way, and I would be on my knees begging for mercy. I have very sensitive follicles.’ We hear ya, Benny boy.

9. He won’t stand for posh-bashing.

‘I was brought up in a world of privilege. It can ostracise you from normal codes of conduct in society,’ he said. ‘Being a posh actor in England, you can’t escape class-typing, from whatever side you look at it. I realised quite early on that, although I wasn’t trying to make a career speciality of it, I was playing slightly asexual, sociopathic intellectuals.’

10. But he’s not like all the other boys he went to Harrow with…

‘I was desperately proud of my parents for sending me to Harrow. It was a huge stretch for them and my grandmother paid two-thirds of my fee. They were working actors who never knew when the next pay day might come. There were those at Harrow who were super rich and went off on their holidays to Aspen, and I’d go and see my grandmother in Brighton.’ You see? He’s posh, but not too posh. Perfect.

10. When asked who he’d most like to meet, he said this and it floored us…

‘Alive? The mother of my children and I’d ask them to take a deep breath and if they fancied a drink.’

11. He seems confident in his bedroom abilities…

‘I always seem to be cast as slightly wan, ethereal, troubled intellectuals or physically ambivalent bad lovers. But I’m here to tell you I’m quite the opposite in real life. In fact I’m a f*cking fantastic lover.’

And cutest of all:

13. He’s appeared in Heartbeat, twice

Benedict maybe the star of Hollywood blockbusters these days, but he sure did the acting rounds early on in his career. He even appeared in everyone’s favourite Sunday night teatime drama Heartbeat, twice. Once as Toby Fisher in the episode ‘No Hard Feelings’ in 2004 and once as someone called Charles in ‘The Good Doctor’ way back in 2000.

14. He’s now in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Benedict couldn’t be held down in television and Oscar-winning films for long… He’s now moving onto the big screen in a BIG way, joining Marvel as the newest Avenger – Doctor Strange. The film will introduce movie-going audiences to the magical side of Marvel, as Benedict plays Stephen Strange, the world’s top neurosurgeon who is imbued with magical powers after a career-ending car accident.

Source: Instagram.com/instacinefilos