Queen legend Brian May has revealed that he recently had "a small heart attack" which left him "very near death".

Earlier this month the 72-year-old announced that he had been hospitalised after a bout of "over-enthusiastic gardening" left him with a torn bum muscle.

In a new video on Instagram, however, May explained that he had remained in "real agony" in the weeks that followed, prompting him to return to hospital for a new MRI.

"I was shocked, I thought I was a healthy guy," he recalled. "Everyone says I've got a great blood pressure and I keep fit, I bike, good diet.

"I had - in the middle of the whole saga of the painful backside - I had a small heart attack. I say small, it's not something that did me any harm. It was about 40 minutes of pain in the chest and tightness. It's that feeling in the arms and sweating. And you kind of know, you've heard things and you think 'this is a heart attack'.

"Anyway, I didn't die, I came out, and... I'm very grateful that I now have a life to lead again. I was very near death because of this, but the pain that I had was from something very different. It's funny how these things work. But I'm good. I'm here. And I'm ready to rock. Please don't send me sympathies, because I'm good. God bless."

May titled his video 'Sheer Heart Attack', a tongue-in-cheek reference to Queen's third studio album.