Iron Maiden facts

Iron Maiden's name derives from medieval coffin torture device covered within, appropriately, with heavy metal sharp spikes

Producer Martin Birch, in horror car crash during sessions for The Number of the Beast, received repair bill for devilish £666, refusing to pay until another quid was added

Bruce Dickinson co-wrote script for 2008 cult horror film Chemical Wedding, which shares title with the singer’s 1998 fifth solo album

Close inspection of Egyptian hieroglyphs covering Powerslave album sleeve reveals hidden messages “Indiana Jones was here” and “Wot, no Guinness?”

Bruce Dickinson puts his licensed commercial pilot skills to good use piloting Iron Maiden around the world aboard Ed Force One aircraft

Before deemed “unreliable” and replaced with Bruce Dickinson, Iron Maiden’s first recorded singer Paul Di’Anno himself stepped into shoes of even less suitable Dennis Wilcock, who wanted to base the band's image on Kiss

Bruce Dickinson wrote Bring Your Daughter…to the Slaughter track for his first solo album but allowed inclusion on Iron Maiden's 1990 No Prayer for the Dying album

Can I Play With Madness video marked among final on-screen appearances of Monty Python's Graham Chapman, as ornery professor, before his October 1989 death

Bruce Dickinson, world class fencer who reached heady heights of seventh-best in the UK, is rumored to have been invited to join Olympic squad but declined due to touring commitments