Are you a 'Game Of Thrones' fan? Of course you are! If not, you're in the minority. Filesharing news website TorrentFreak revealed that we Aussies were responsible for some 12.5 per cent of all illegal downloads of the smash-hit show's recent series - more than any other nation on Earth. We at Big Men's Clothing would never condone such naughty behaviour, but even so, it still shows just how popular the show has become.
Mountains of fun
There is one character in Game Of Thrones who stands head and shoulders (literally) above all others when it comes to downright nastiness, in a world full of nasty characters - Gregor 'The Mountain' Clegane. Not for no reason does 'The Mountain' have that nickname. He is ferociously strong, has a monstrous temper and thinks nothing of beheading his own horse should it falter in a joust.
Thor has become a role model for larger men ever since he first became known to a wider audience for his role in Game Of Thrones.
You'd be right to think, then, that the actor chosen to play The Mountain should surely have similar credentials. Well, we don't mean that he enjoys crushing the skulls of foreign princes (as The Mountain did in one memorable scene) but he sure does have the look, size and strength of his fictional counterpart.
Enter Hafthor Julius Bjornsson - one of the strongest men who has ever lived. At 6' 9" (a shade over two metres) tall and weighing in at 110 kilograms, Hafthor Julius Bjornsson (we'll just call him Thor, as he likes to be known) has never failed to finish in the top three positions of the last five World's Strongest Man competitions, and he's been crowned the strongest man in his native Iceland since 2011. He even managed to beat a 1,000-year-old record in January 2015, as he carried a 650 kilogram log on his back for five steps. The previous holder only managed three...
All hail Thor
The strongman actually started his career as a prospective basketball player, and at that height, it's easy to see why. Even so, he soon found that he took to lifting weights like a duck to water, and before long, he was competing in local strongman competitions in his native Iceland - all before he was 20 years of age.
His size and strength continued to boom, and it wasn't long before he was catapulted to the higher echelons of the global strongman rankings.
His rugged looks, pure power and striking features soon saw casting directors looking in his direction, and it was only a matter of time when he made his star turn as the fearsome Mountain. Today, Thor still stars as The Mountain. His character was initially killed at the end of Season Four - or at least mortally wounded - but his popularity was such that The Mountain was reanimated, appearing even more powerful in later episodes. Alongside his acting, Thor still strives for the Holy Grail of strong men - to be crowned the World's Strongest, a title which has so far eluded him.
Thor has become a role model for larger men ever since he first became known to a wider audience for his role in Game Of Thrones, as well as his strongman exploits. Of course, there aren't many of us who can rival him for pure strength, but plenty do so when it comes to size. Thor has never let his frame stand in the way when it comes to looking good from a fashion perspective - he just had to look for threads a little larger than average. Whether he's lifting rather heavy weights in his gym wearing comfortable sweatpants, or taking a walk into town in a fine casual shirt, Thor is sure to turn heads in more ways than one.
