A man celebrating his birthday dressed as Gandalf from Lord of the Rings was on a pub crawl when he suddenly bumped into Sir Ian McKellen.

Tolkien super-fan Ben Coyles was out marking his 22nd birthday when he ran into the iconic British actor who played the part.

McKellen, who portrayed Gandalf the wizard in the blockbuster film trilogy, The Lord of the Rings (and The Hobbit), was in the English city of Bristol for a stage role.

Ben was walking to the next celebratory bar with a group of friends on April 13 when they turned onto Corn Street and saw the Oscar-nominated man himself.

Almost in shock, Ben's friends managed to take a couple photos for him featuring his hero.

"We had no idea he would be there," said Felix Spencer. "We were on our penultimate pub when someone comes up and asks if we would like our Gandalf to meet the real Gandalf.

"So I turn around and assume it's going to be someone pulling my leg but when I turn round Sir Ian McKellen is right there.

A few of Ben's friends knew he was in town-performing in Mother Goose at the Bristol Hippodrome on April 14th with comedian John Bishop-but they never imagined bumping into him.

"So, it was really bizarre," said Ben, a music student at the University of Bristol. "I didn't recognize him immediately, then I was like ‘OH MY GOD, IT'S SIR IAN MCKELLEN!'

"Everybody said ‘what on earth is going on?!'

"He asked me how old I was, and said 'happy birthday', and shook my hand.

"I was flabbergasted, I had no idea what to do or say.

"We had zero idea that he was walking down that street.

"He's a really lovely bloke, an excellent guy, nice, down to earth and humble and I'd like to buy him a drink.

"If I was 10-20 meters ahead of him it wouldn't have happened-the planets aligned."

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