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Many people would link "Maximus" to the name of Russell Crowe's heroic character in the film Gladiator, Maximus Decimus Meridius.

It’s not hard to imagine that the gladiatrix fought for a chance to echo in eternity, just like Maximus Decimus Meridius, Lucius Veras Aeuralias and the historical gladiators who bled in the arena.

The original film won five Oscars, including best actor for Russell Crowe, who played Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius alongside Joaquin Phoenix as Emperor Commodus.

Facing Regents Park, they were designed and built in the early 1800s by the renowned Georgian architects, James and Decimus Burton and John Nash, who also designed the park.

There’s a lot to draw the eye away from the central action in Scott’s films – Orlando Bloom, for example, doesn’t have the presence to draw focus in Kingdom of Heaven – but Crowe’s General Maximus Decimus Meridius has a simple and well-defined mission, and the actor plays it as righteous as a sword plunged straight to the hilt.