Actor Brian Blessed is not the only person to deliver a stranger’s baby in Richmond Park.

Brian Blessed: I delivered a baby in Richmond Park, bit through its umbilical cord and licked its face

In 2006, tree surgeons Ed Campbell-White and Peter Carlyon sprang into action to assist Carmel Ohrwall, who was on her way to Kingston Hospital with her husband when they were forced to stop.

The tree surgeons saw the couple’s car pulled over at an "unusual" angle near Pembroke Lodge and pulled their Land Rover over to investigate.

Mr Campbell-White, now a manager at Royal Parks' contractors The Tree Company, said: "As we walked up she was on her haunches and had delivered the baby herself.

"Her husband was in a terrible flap on the phone to the ambulance and didn’t know what to do as they wanted a postcode but obviously we were in the middle of the park."

Mr Carlyon called his then girlfriend, a midwife, and was advised to make sure the umbilical cord was not round the baby’s neck and to keep it warm and with the mother.

Mr Campbell-White said the pair put their jumpers around the mother and newborn and waited for the ambulance to arrive.

He said: "When they left in the ambulance we were left behind absolutely shellshocked."

A rowan tree was planted on the spot the 7lb baby boy was born.

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Flash Gordon star Brian Blessed with baby (artist's impression)

Unlike Brian Blessed, Mr Campbell-White said the tree surgeons did not lick the child or bite through its umbilical cord.

He said: "We had our chainsaws and secateurs with us but didn’t think it would be appropriate to use them."