A walking, talking, living idol

11:27am Tuesday 23rd September 2008

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Forty-five years ago I came out of the now-demolished Studio 70 cinema in Shenley Road humming the theme song to Summer Holiday.

Even today I suspect if you stopped people in Shenley Road, the majority would be familiar with that classic number one.

Little did I imagine that decades later I would be interviewing its star Cliff Richard, or reuniting him with two of his co-stars for the first time in all those years.

Elstree and Borehamwood Town Council gathered together representatives of local organisations to witness the unveiling of a plaque in his honour at Elstree Studios. Sir Cliff first came to Borehamwood 50 years ago to appear in a film being made at MGM called Serious Charge.

It was a social drama about a gang of tearaway teenagers. It was decided that Cliff would sing in one scene a number called Living Doll, which they then released as a single helping to turn him into a pop star.

In that half a century Cliff has come a long way from a screen teenage delinquent to a knight of the realm.

Cliff has a dedicated and large fan base but is also the target for those who like to knock his goody-goody image. What nobody can challenge is a success record that outstrips every other recording artiste and is unlikely to be equalled.

He has enjoyed a number one hit in five successive decades in an industry that chews up talent and careers usually can be counted in a handful of years. His contemporaries are either dead, retired or glad to sell a few hundred tickets for a concert while Cliff sells thousands in just hours.

He and the Shadows were enjoying chart-toppers in an age where you had to sell more records per day than you now have to in a week to get a number one.

It was great fun for me to interview Sir Cliff on stage for about an hour, which ranks as one of his longest interviews for many a year. Nowadays TV interviews are often little more than extended soundbites and he very rarely makes public appearances, apart from concerts.

It is hard to imagine being in a constant spotlight from the age of 17 until approaching 70. I suspect he enjoys the privacy of his homes in Portugal, Barbados, New York and Surrey.

The only thing that annoyed me about Sir Cliff was how fit and slim he is —even in his late Sixties. I felt like the old man and I am 13 years his junior and he has got more hair.

I asked multi-Oscar-winning lyricist Sir Tim Rice to unveil the plaque who was more than happy to do the honours. I guess he summed up our guest of honour well by saying he is a genuinely nice guy which I think is a pretty good accolade.

I must also thank Sullivan Buses for providing a Sixties red double-decker which we parked at the front of the studio with a ‘welcome home’ banner. It proved the perfect shot for the posse of press photographers sending a nostalgic image around the world.

It is fun when the community, the council and the studio can come together and create a memorable moment in showbiz history.

We may not be the young ones anymore and a summer holiday is more likely to be a Saga holiday, but we still know how to celebrate a wonderful life.