Fictional warrior created by American fantasy author Robert E. Howard in 1932. Fifty years later, with the character having grown in popularity through a succession of stories and comics, Conan the Barbarian's renown was boosted even further by the release of a film of the same title, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as Conan.

Knightmare gave a nod to Conan the Barbarian in Series 6, when Sylvester Hands tried to pass himself off to Team 3 of Series 6 as a carrot-loving hero named Coonan the Vegetarian. A clip of this can be seen here on the ITV Children's Classics channel on YouTube. With the help of a spyglass and Ridolfo, the team overcame the ruse, though it was not the last time that the Opposition would try to endanger them with a masquerade (SEE: Harris).

It later emerged that Knightmare creator Tim Child holds Conan's 1982 movie appearance in high regard, as demonstrated by a comment he made on the Knightmare.com Discussion Forum in March 2004:

'The Americans could not manage a credible portrayal of heroic fantasy ... Then Hollywood got it so very right with Conan the Barbarian'

[Earlier version: 2009-12-30 12:41:27]

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