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(Have you met Cliff
and want to tell us all about it? Email me the information and I'll
include you on this page too!)
November 15th
2002 - The Brighton Centre
Well guys and gals, as you
can see from the above picture, I’ve done it, I’ve really done it!!
I met Cliff after the show in Brighton on Nov 15th and I was calm –
despite the fact that for the above picture – he had his arm around
me!!!!!!!!!! *swoon*
Let me tell you how this
came about. The London and Surrey club has an honorary member called Nigel
Goodall, who is author to ‘The Ultimate Cliff’, ‘The Cliff Richard Chronicles’
and about a dozen other biographies (Demi Moore, Winona Ryder, Kylie Minogue –
the list goes on!). Nigel’s name is also the name you see on sleeve notes for
some Cliff albums, which are always in interesting read because of the back
ground knowledge imparted to us through these notes. Nigel writes about Cliff
with Peter Lewry. I’ve helped create Nigel’s website (www.nigelgoodall.co.uk)
which I happened to ‘hand over’ to him this weekend because Nigel had very
kindly got me a ticket for the Brighton Show. This was no ordinary ticket
however. This is a ticket with a guest pass, a pass to hospitality!
Friday during the day Nigel
and I worked hard on his site, pouring over the contents of it, changing
things etc before finally uploading it late Friday afternoon. Once ready to
leave his place, we tootled along to Brighton in my car, parking in the car
park next to the Brighton Centre at about 6.15pm. Nigel had warned me that
hospitality may not be open yet, so we began to make our way to the main
entrance in order to find another honorary member of the club, Mike Wilson.
As we walked down the road, Nigel spied Roger Bruce just outside the VIP
entrance and we approached him. Roger recognised Nigel and they shook hands,
Nigel introducing me. After a brief discussion about the CRO offices, we were
told that hospitality was open and we entered the center via the VIP entrance.
I’d taken my camera and Nigel and I had discussed whether we’d be able to get
in this entrance with it, but wearing a bright green ‘Wanted’ guest badge
(coaster size!), we sailed past security until we found the lounge.
The square room, brightly
lit was also brightly decorated, with orange swatches on the walls (as you can
see in the picture behind me!) and brightly coloured material draped from the
ceilings in places.. There were 4 settee’s, each with exotic coloured throws
over them and several coffee tables on which were bowls of crisps and fresh
flowers. One corner of the room had a small free bar, where you could obtain
coca cola etc, wine and water. A lady took my coat and hung it up in small
room off to one side at the back. I was introduced to Peter Lewry and his
wife and the four of us stood chatting. Bill Latham was circulating around
the room and I recognised Joan, Cliff’s sister and her daughter. There were
probably about 20 people all told, some people wearing badges like mine and
others wearing plastic badges that hung around their necks with a picture of
the ‘Wanted’ poster and AAA (Access All Areas !!) written in large red letters
underneath. Joan and Bill both had these types of badges as did several other
people. Nigel had been told that Cliff was going out to dinner straight after
the concert and therefore was unlikely to make an appearance in the suite
after the show. Well time marched on and Cliff did not come into the lounge
prior to the show. I was ever hopeful.
The four of us were sat in
row D, seats 24 – 27 in the slightly raised first tier to the right of the
stage. It was the closest I’d been so far and this time I’d got my camera, so
I was able to take some good pictures. I’d not bought the right speed film,
so I knew it was a hit and miss affair as to whether any pictures would come
out. I do have some though, and I’ll be publishing them in the magazine and
on the website. At the half time interval, after completely melting AGAIN
after Cliff had sung ‘I Honestly Love You’ (I just loved that song), we again
went past the guards and up to hospitality. Gloria Hunniford was up there
this time, along with the faces we’d seen from before the show. Since it was
such a short break, I think I knew that Cliff wasn’t going to make an
appearance then, so I asked Nigel if he wanted to go back down to the hall and
meet Mike Wilson (Mike and Nigel have talked many times on the phone but had
never met). He said he’d like that so we made out into the hall and sought
out Mike. I was aware of people looking at me and the guest pass that I was
wearing – hardly inconspicuous being the bright green it was! I felt very
special! We found Mike and pulled him out from his seat, giving Nigel and
Peter their chance to say hello and exchange a few words. The second half was
due to start, so it wasn’t long before we were ushered back to our seats.
The Brighton show I felt was
far better than the London Arena show’s that I’d attended earlier in the week,
probably due to the fact that I was closer but more so because I felt the
sound was much better than the London ones. Maybe the acoustics were better
in Brighton but I also felt that it was louder too. We sung along and waved
our arms to the more up beat second half and I clapped until my hands hurt
when Cliff left the stage! After the show, we again made our way up to
hospitality. The room filled up quite quickly and people got their drinks and
formed their little groups chatting loudly. I chatted with Peter’s wife,
watching the door. Then Roger Bruce entered the room and just behind him was
Cliff! I’d anticipated this moment all my life. I can’t tell you how excited
I was but also how calm I was. I’ve often wondered how I would behave if I
were in the position I’d found myself in on Friday…..would I be able to speak,
would my heart be pounding, would my palms be sweaty, would I blush like a
school girl, would I be able to wipe the grin off my face….so many
question!!! Cliff greeted some people who were literally in front of us but
within moments he’d turned and spied Nigel and Peter. He warmly greeted them
both (obviously having met them before) and shook Peter’s wife’s hand before
Nigel introduced me to him. I shook his hand, noting that it wasn’t as soft
was I was expecting it to be (having had the luxury life he’s had) but was
very much a normal feeling hand (I know that sounds odd!) and he had a good
firm handshake, which I reciprocated (I hate flimsy hand shakes!). He made
very good eye contact me with whilst I calmly told him that I thought the show
had been very good. He replied expressing how the show had been in two
distinct halves. I agreed with him but expressed my delight at the choice of
songs chosen. He smiled brightly and said that he was glad I’d enjoyed it. I
could see that he was already considering moving on, so I took the opportunity
of asking if I could have my picture taken with him. He agreed, though said
he needed to see other people, to which I agreed. I took my camera and gave
it to Peter’s wife, and took my place beside Cliff. We put our arms around
each other and smiled! Picture taken! I thanked him and he moved on. I was
still calm! I couldn’t believe my luck! Peter’s wife was telling me that
even though my camera was a point and snap camera (least that’s the mode it
was in) she wasn’t sure that it had focused. I told her not to worry and even
if it were out of focus, it was still be Cliff and I!! Nigel and Peter
chatted with Bill for a while and I continued talking to Peter’s wife,
discussing the fact that I was in a small room with Cliff and his friends. I
didn’t stare, again as I thought I would do, but glanced round from time to
time, seeing Cliff greeting some people, hugging some, kissing others. I
can’t tell you how honoured I felt to be in a room with Cliff’s family and
friends! Before long, Cliff began working his way back to the door again. He
came back to our group of four and said goodbye to us all, shaking my hand
again and telling me that he was pleased to have met me. Then he was gone!
We collected our coats and exited the building. The back entrance to the hall
was besieged with people who had spotted when Cliff’s range rover had been
parked. There were still loads of cars trying to make their way out of the
car park, so we stood on the pavement and waited with everyone else. Cliff
left with Roger shortly afterwards and people began to disperse and make their
way home. And so ended a truly wonderful evening, in fact the whole day had
been lovely.
My thanks to Nigel, to whom
I will be eternally grateful.
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