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Elvis's secret sightseeing tour of London
Ellen Widdup, Evening Standard22 Apr 2008
Elvis Presley once paid a secret visit to London, it has been revealed. For 50 years it was believed the singer had never set foot in England - a brief visit to Scotland his only time in Britain.
But theatre producer Bill Kenwright claimed the rocker went sightseeing with Cockney singer Tommy Steele during a trip that took in the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace.
Elvis, who was 23 at the time and needed military guards to control crowds whenever he appeared in public in the US, managed to tour the capital without drawing attention to himself.
Today Steele, now 71, who was once billed as the British equivalent of the American star, refused to give details on their adventure and said Elvis had wanted him to keep it a secret.
He added: "It was an event shared by two young men sharing the same love of their music and the same thrill of achieving something unimaginable.
"I swore never to divulge publicly what took place and I regret that it has found some way of 'getting into the light'.
"I can only hope he can forgive me." The meeting, which is believed to have taken place in 1958, was revealed in a pre-recorded Radio 2 interview on Ken Bruce's show Tracks Of My Years.
Kenwright, who has known Steele for decades, said he had blurted it out without thinking. "I remember him telling me about when Elvis came to England," he said. "Tommy got home one night and the phone rings. A voice says, 'They tell me you're good.'
"Tommy says, 'Who's this?' 'Elvis,' says the voice. 'Get outta here,' says Tommy. 'Are you as good as me?' says Elvis ... and they sort of started this mock rivalry.
"It all came from that. It's quite something, isn't it - the thought of them wandering around London together? But the impression I got was that they never got out of the car. It was more like, 'There's Buckingham Palace ... there's the Houses of Parliament.'
"Tommy is a very private person who doesn't go into the past. It's only me who makes him talk about it."
If the pair had been spotted together in Britain there would almost certainly have been a riot. British fans never got to see an Elvis concert on home soil and his only documented trip to the UK was a brief stopover in Ayrshire. His plane landed at Prestwick airport to refuel and archive pictures show him there signing autographs and phoning his teenage sweetheart Priscilla, soon to become his bride.
That night he told the crowds gathered to see him: "This is quite a country. I must see more of it."
Reader views (3)
This is just bull, neither Charlie Hodge or Joe Esposito who served with Elvis when he was doing his military service could rememember this. Both of them traveled with Elvis to Paris, and became close friends with Elvis during the military years. Elvis would'nt been able to do a trip like that when he was in the military, and if he did he would've shared it with his closest friends. Charlie Hodge told me in an interview that Elvis talked much about their trip to Paris. So this sounds like wishful thinking and a publicity stunt from Tommy Steele. And being a pre-recorded interview they would've been able to stop it before airing, if he didn't want to break his "promise" to Elvis. Maybe he talked with Elvis, maybe he didn't. Anyway Elvis never visited London in his life, but he comes back again in concert next year. So enjoy the real thing, and don't believe everything you hear about Elvis.
- Steinar Elvis Lyshaug (Tce-Radioshow), Galterud, Norway, 08/05/2009 07:42
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Sounds very unlikely, not worth half a sixpence.
- Martin H. Watson, Teddington, 22/04/2008 15:12
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Sounds like some "little white bull" to me.
- I Believe, Chatham, 22/04/2008 14:26
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