--- title: Sir Ian McKellen to British Schoolchildren: "You Shall Not Pass!" description: The iconic actor recited his most iconic line from The Lord of the Rings trilogy to a group of delighted students canonical: https://time.com/3517918/sir-ian-mckellen-lord-of-the-rings-students/ author: Eric Dodds article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-17T20:10:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:13:53.566Z og:title: Watch Sir Ian McKellen Tell Students What Happens If They Don't Study og:description: "If you don't revise properly... You Shall Not Pass!" og:url: https://time.com/3517918/sir-ian-mckellen-lord-of-the-rings-students/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt822a363172ce1aa9/6987617c3c16392c6c44f202/451927031.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: "No Man's Land" & "Waiting For Godot" Opening Night - After Party og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Sir Ian McKellen Tell Students What Happens If They Don't Study twitter:description: "If you don't revise properly... You Shall Not Pass!" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt822a363172ce1aa9/6987617c3c16392c6c44f202/451927031.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch Sir Ian McKellen Tell Students What Happens If They Don't Study by [Eric Dodds](https://time.com/author/eric-dodds/) ## Eric Dodds Oct 17, 2014 8:10 PM UTC  Sir Ian McKellen attends the "No Man's Land" & "Waiting For Godot" Opening Night after party at the Bryant Park Grill in New York City on Nov. 24, 2013. Sir Ian McKellen attends the "No Man's Land" & "Waiting For Godot" Opening Night after party at the Bryant Park Grill in New York City on Nov. 24, 2013.Walter McBride—WireImage/Getty Images by [Eric Dodds](https://time.com/author/eric-dodds/) ## Eric Dodds Oct 17, 2014 8:10 PM UTC **Updated Oct. 20, 10:30 a.m. ET** Sir Ian McKellen — who has earned a reputation of late for showing up in [random places and doing awesome things](http://www.buzzfeed.com/lyapalater/times-patrick-stewart-and-ian-mckellen-proved-they-are-th#3437seo) (typically with his pal and sometimes co-star Patrick Stewart) — stopped by the Chew Valley School in England today and addressed the assembled masses. Instead of rambling on as school speakers tend to do, McKellen simply stood by a window and asked, “If you don’t do your revision properly, do you know what will happen?” After waiting a beat, the _Lord of the Rings_ star summoned his best Gandalf impersonation and bellowed, “[You. Shall. Not. Pass!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJZZNHekEQw)” (Sidenote: Is it still an impersonation if you’re impersonating a character that you yourself originated?) [**_5 Must-Haves Before You Head Back to College_**](http://motto.time.com/4447131/college-packing-checklist/) Anyhow, it’s entirely unclear why exactly McKellen was at the school, but any excuse for him to belt out [iconic declarations](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWEpWb1Nt8E) from _Lord of the Rings_ in front of a bunch of giddy British schoolchildren is a good one. _Update: According to the_ [_Chew Valley School website_](http://www.chewvalleyschool.co.uk/News/Sir-Ian-McKellen-Visits-Chew-Valley/)_, “The visit was a celebration of the tremendous work the Equalities Team have been doing for more than a year now in promoting human rights, opposing bullying and in particular challenging homophobic language and behaviour in school.” McKellen confirmed the purpose of his visit_ [_on Twitter_](https://twitter.com/IanMcKellen/status/523841141054001152)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3517918/sir-ian-mckellen-lord-of-the-rings-students/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3517918/sir-ian-mckellen-lord-of-the-rings-students/"},"headline":"Watch Sir Ian McKellen Tell Students What Happens If They Don't Study","datePublished":"2014-10-17T20:10:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:13:53.566Z","description":"The acclaimed actor told assembled schoolchildren, \"If you don't do your revision properly, do you know what will happen?... 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