'My favourite part of the country' Sir Ian McKellen

The award-winning actor, whose career spans six decades, held a special fundraising performance at Keswick’s Theatre by the Lake.

Sir Ian has been donning the stages at theatres round the country raising money for the theatre he is performing in.

For the lakeside venue, he managed to help raise £19,300.

The event was not only a celebration for the actor, but it also coincided with the theatres twentieth birthday.

After the performance, the X-Men villain met with the audience and collected donations.

Liz Stevenson, Artistic Director of Theatre by the Lake, said: "Already this year we’ve welcomed many schools, community groups and youth groups to the theatre, and visited them in the local area - and we look forward to doing much more of this thanks to the success of this special event.

“We are hugely grateful to Ian for all his work in supporting theatre and performance in the UK - and for choosing TBTL to be part of his 80th birthday tour which just happened to coincide with our twentieth birthday.

"And, we are hugely grateful to the audience who joined us on Tuesday, and in doing so have helped to raise these funds to support our work with young people.

Explaining his connections to the area Sir Ian said: "Live theatre has always been thrilling to me, as an actor and in the audience.

"Growing up in Lancashire, I was grateful to those companies who toured beyond London and I’ve always enjoyed repaying that debt by touring up and down the country myself.

"As a theatre-mad lad in Lancashire, I used to see the travelling Century Theatre, which ended up permanently on Derwentwater.

" So my TBTL début is in gratitude for those long-ago productions and for the other times when I have seen the company at work in Keswick.

"The Lake District is my favourite part of the country, which is another reason I wanted to bring you my new show.

" It’s a great joy to me, when I’m far away, to know there is this wonderful theatre in this wonderful place.”