Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson given cancer all clear

Iron Maiden have officially confirmed that following an MRI scan, Bruce Dickinson has been given the all-clear from throat cancer by his specialists.

In the announcement, Bruce thanked his medical team and family before adding "I’d like to send a heartfelt thanks to all our fans for their kind words and thoughts. I’m a firm believer in trying to maintain a positive attitude, and the encouragement from the global Maiden family meant a great deal to me."

And in a line that will warm the hearts of millions of metal fans he concluded "Right now, I’m feeling extremely motivated and can’t wait to get back to business as usual, as soon as I can!”

Maiden's manager Rod Smallwood revealed that the band won't be touring until next year, to give Dickinson time to get back to "his usual indefatigable levels of fitness before going out on the road."

Adding a tantalising glimpse for the fans, Smallwood signed-off "For now, the focus will be on putting the finishing touches to the new Iron Maiden studio album and that is what we will be concentrating on over the coming weeks. The release however will definitely be this year."