The Ultimate Cliff by

Cliff Richard was Britain's answer to America's Elvis Presley but that was almost 50 years ago. Elvis has long "left the building" but Cliff, an old boy now, is still around and believe or not, still singing. His hardcore fans are legendary. I am one of those "old" fans. Cliff is actually quite a nice guy. The fact that he looks about 20 years younger than his 64 years is due, in a large part, to clean living and a heavy dose of spirituality.

BY all accounts, Cliff Richard seems an absolutely wonderful guy. He has
hardly any faults although he admits to the bad habit of sucking teeth.
All his old friends have remained best friends. For example, Hank Marvin
and Bruce Welch, shadows from his old days, are still as thick as thieves
with him, although their paths seldom cross these days.
Cliff has been bestowed so many musical awards that they would probably
occupy a fairly large study. The list of his fan clubs is extensive. His
contributions to and performances for charity are almost legendary. He
received a knighthood in 1995.
And yet, for all his fame and fortune, Cliff's feet are still firmly
planted on solid ground. He professes to be a God-fearing Christian, and
is proud of his religious convictions, showing it with a multitude of
recordings of gospel, Christmas and inspirational pieces from the 60s to
the present.
In his own words: "Christianity gave me a sense of perspective. I
realised that music wasn't the most important thing in my life. What
matters is my relationship with God and my belief that, even though I
don't deserve it, I will enter Heaven. Now, much as I want to live, I am
not scared of death."
One can't help but like Cliff Richard after reading and hearing so many
nice things written and said about him. He's very much into clean-living
although he has been suspected of leading an alternative lifestyle because
of his bachelor ways. He plays tennis competitively, loves his mom,
cherishes his friends and takes great delight in singing. Quite a normal
bloke, actually.
The Ultimate Cliff, to put it mildly, is a one-volume encyclopaedia
about the boy, the man, the occasional evangelist, and ultimately the
singer whom many people love.
The book provides an amazing array of trivia, ranging from the names of
actors, managers and tour personnel who have worked with Cliff to his
favourite Bible stories. There is a music discography which lists all his
recorded productions, from singles (78 rpm or 45 rpm) to CDs, cassettes
and extended play albums.
Only a die-hard, ultra-hardcore Cliff Richard fan can truly appreciate
the facts and figures about their favourite singer who thrived in the 50s,
60s, 70s, 80s, and is still filling the stadiums in the 90s. Bruce Welch,
in the foreword, sums up his assessment of The Ultimate Cliff quite
succinctly: "Here in this book, you can follow in amazing detail what
Cliff has been doing these 38 years: the records, films, television shows,
stage shows, tours, books and the people who helped him along the way. A
real trainspotter's delight."
Authors Peter Lewry and Nigel Goodall have painted a very pretty picture
of Cliff to the point where there's really nothing scandalous one can dig
out of the closet about this chap born Harry Rodger Webb. He's certainly
not a journalist's delight. There's no record whatsoever of him having
slugged a member of the paparazzi!
In fact, Cliff has made fashionable, once again, that which had gone out
of fashion among the celebrities - being nice, being good and being
religious.
Since his knighthood on October 25, 1995, Sir Cliff has gone on to other
things, like playing in the musical Heathcliff. But Cliff, being Cliff, is
humble about the award from the Queen."Who'd have thought it! A
knighthood. I suppose from now on I'll be known as Sir Cliff - but you can
call me Cliff!"
And so we shall.