Morning:
8°c
Livingstone parties with India 'royals'
Ross Lydall, City Hall Editor23 Nov 2007
Ken Livingstone partied with India's "royal family" as he brought down the curtain on his visit to Mumbai.
He staged a glitzy "London showcase" concert that was attended by Bollywood "godfather" Amitabh Bachchan and his daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai, a former Miss World still described as the most beautiful woman.
Mr Bachchan's son Abhishek, an actor too, was also at the event, held on the rooftop terrace of the five-star Taj Palace hotel. The Bachchans are treated like royalty in India and the event attracted massive media interest.
Today the London Mayor was flying to Amritsar to visit the Golden Temple, the most holy site to Sikhism and the scene of two massacres. The most recent, in 1984, resulted in the revenge assassination of then Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. The Mayor's visit to India, costing about £740,000 of public money, ends tomorrow.
Last night's concert featured musician and presenter Myleene Klass and Indian pop superstar Sonu Nigam. The Mayor presented.Amitabh Bachchan with a Visit London award for his 40-year cinema career.
Ms Klass, who left her new-born daughter to attend the event, performed a piece from the Michael Nyman classical music soundtrack to the film The Piano.
The event also featured West End singer Simon Bowman, who sang The Music Of The Night from The Phantom Of The Opera, as well as performers from the West End musical Stomp and Indian dancers.
Mr Livingstone, who bounded on stage to a blast of London Calling by The Clash, said: "It's been an amazing week, not least because I have managed to get through most of it and nothing has gone wrong so far. But there is still two days to go."
He praised his staff, saying: "Everything has gone wonderful this week. My staff have worked for 18 months to put this together. I get all the credit. They do all the work. They have been wonderful. I can't believe the impact they have produced."
