7 Facts about Britains most violent prisoner.

I really was a nasty bastard, a horrible violent nasty man, and I'm not proud of it, But I'm not ashamed of it either. For every punch I've swung in my life I've taken 21 back. I don't cry about my life. I never have and I never will.  Charles Bronson (Salvador). 7 Facts about Britains most violent prisoner.

1. Born Michael Gordon Peterson in 1952 to a respectable middle-class family in Aberystwyth, West Wales, he would eventually move on to Liverpool and then Luton where he would go on to earn a living as a circus strongman.

2. Bronson changed his name to that of the Hollywood star of the Death Wish films after a bare knuckle fight promoter said it would be a bigger pull than his real name, Michael Peters.

3. Bronson was originally jailed for seven years for armed robbery in 1974 at the age of 19, and has had a series of sentences added to his original term over the years for attacking inmates and prison staff along with over a dozen hostage taking incidents.

4. To date he's has served over 34 years in prison and solitary confinement, spending just 131 days as a free man since his initial imprisonment.

He was released in October 1988 and spent 68 days as a free man before being arrested for robbery. He also tasted freedom in November 1992 for 53 days, before inevitably returning to jail for conspiracy to rob.

5. Weighing 210lbs and standing five feet ten and a half inches tall, Bronson is renowned for his strength, having bent metal cell doors with his bare hands. His daily training regime includes up to 3,000 press-ups a day.

6. Bronson holds six world records for feats of strength and fitness and well as an unofficial record for the most prison rooftop protests by any UK inmate.

7.  He carried out his most infamous hostage incident in 1998, when he took two Iraqi hijackers and another inmate hostage at Belmarsh prison in London. Insisting his hostages call him "General", he told negotiators he would eat one of his victims before demanding a helicopter to Cuba along with a cheese and pickle sandwich to end the stand off.

In 2000 he was jailed for life after being convicted of holding a teacher hostage for nearly two days during a jail siege.

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