An interesting thing I didn't know until today

[Various Artist]

It's not exactly the cleverest anagram. What does 'or neighbours' mean?

Oh, I wasn't suggesting that was meant to be clever or have some hidden meaning or anything – I was just indicating that it's not an exact anagram, the letters O and R are left over.

I should have just expressed it like:

"It's only now when the show is finally about to end for good (in a couple of weeks' time), I've realised the name of the place has the entire name of the show itself hidden within it:

ERINSBOROUGH
>>
NEIGHBOURS"

I didn't meant to send anyone down an irrelevant rabbit hole there. Though I quite like the "OUR NEIGHBORS" theory!

[Jon]

I used to watch Neighbours. In the 80s. It was on between CBBC and the news. I didn't watch it at first because I was annoyed that it replaced the Flintstones.

Then at 6 turn over to BBC2 for Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica or Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

Yes! I'd completely forgotten that 6.00 was the time for US sci-fi. Flash Gordon too. And sometimes, some Harold Lloyd to mix it up a bit.

[Various Artist]

And yes, the UK's Channel 5 has actually been the main provider of funding for the last however many years (having picked up the show about 10 years ago after the BBC decided to dump it after 25 years or whatever of showing it) – so when they decided to focus on homegrown programmes instead and finally pulled the plug it meant the death knell for the production. I hadn't realised until then that it had been sidelined to quite such an extent by Channel Ten in Australia, but definitely the vast majority of the audience had always been in the UK rather than in its homeland.

I watched from about 1989 to 2006, losing touch ironically when I moved Down Under, albeit to NZ rather than Aus. The point where I bowed out, indeed I think this occurred the very day I left the country, was the infamous air crash that killed several of Harold's extended family. Delighted to hear that the big man himself is one of several former stars coming back for the finale, including Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan over three decades after they left:

https://twitter.com/JDonOfficial/status/1546373688806838273

[Southport Zeb]

Henry VIII's first wife, Catherine of Aragon, was the godmother of his last wife, Catherine Parr.

[Satchmo Distel]

On Patti Smith variants, there was a showjumper called Pat Smythe.

[Satchmo Distel]

Elvis first performed in Hawaii in Nov 57, going by ship because he promised his mother he would never fly.

Our current hotel is less than a mile from where Elvis stayed while filming Blue Hawaii in 1961.

[Amor de Cosmos]

He flew when he was in the Army of course, though was a year or so later. IIRC he even touched down in Scotland. The only time he set foot on British soil.

[ursus arctos]

His mother died before that, and he also took a ship to Germany (from the Brooklyn Army Terminal, fact fans).

[Jon]

Yes. Prestwick airport?

Edit - in reply to Amor.

[Satchmo Distel]

He also flew to Hawaii in 1961. I think the promise no longer applied after his mother died in August 58 (almost exactly 19 years before his death).

In Blue Hawaii, Angela Lansbury played his mother but was in real life only 9 years older. The title song was an old Bing Crosby number and the film is really the kind of thing Crosby would have been given.

[Walter Knight]

He also flew to Hawaii in 1961. I think the promise no longer applied after his mother died in August 58 (almost exactly 19 years before his death).

In Blue Hawaii, Angela Lansbury played his mother but was in real life only 9 years older. The title song was an old Bing Crosby number and the film is really the kind of thing Crosby would have been given.

Angela Lansbury was also only three years older than Lawrence Harvey when she played his mother in The Manchurian Candidate. I didn't learn that today as such, but knew it was a small age difference.

[Satchmo Distel]

Elvis also started dating Priscilla not long after his mother died, but Guralnick also describes him having three 14 year olds in his bedroom doing "rough-housing" in 1957 with their parents' consent (no suggestion of sexual activity but bizarrely naive by today's standards; and like a precedent for Jacko's activities later, even if you accept that neither Elvis nor MJ was deriving direct pleasure from the interactions).

Priscilla's age is apparently omitted from the current biopic (not seen it but am reading this in reviews).

[ursus arctos]

Elvis at Prestwick

[Various Artist]

Oh wow, that's something I learnt today – I had no idea there was a photographic record of Elvis' stopover at Prestwick.

Someone in the British early rock'n'roll fraternity, I want to say Tommy Steele, claimed relatively recently to have taken Elvis out incognito in London(?) around that time – something there'd been no suggestion of in any of the history previously recounted. And which would obviously somewhat undermine Prestwick's claim to uniqueness.

[Various Artist]

Elvis also started dating Priscilla not long after his mother died, but Guralnick also describes him having three 14 year olds in his bedroom doing "rough-housing" in 1957 with their parents' consent (no suggestion of sexual activity but bizarrely naive by today's standards; and like a precedent for Jacko's activities later, even if you accept that neither Elvis nor MJ was deriving direct pleasure from the interactions).

Is that in Last Train to Memphis, Satch? I've got Guralnick's two-part biography but have never read the books from front to back.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Oh wow, that's something I learnt today – I had no idea there was a photographic record of Elvis' stopover at Prestwick.

Someone in the British early rock'n'roll fraternity, I want to say Tommy Steele, claimed relatively recently to have taken Elvis out incognito in London(?) around that time – something there'd been no suggestion of in any of the history previously recounted. And which would obviously somewhat undermine Prestwick's claim to uniqueness.

Sounds really unlikely. Army service aside, there's no record of him ever being in the UK, or anywhere outside North America IIRC. Did he even have a passport?

[Satchmo Distel]

Is that in Last Train to Memphis, Satch? I've got Guralnick's two-part biography but have never read the books from front to back.

Yes, page 426, citing an interview in Goldman's book with one of the girls.

[ursus arctos]

FWIW, my father claimed that passports weren't necessary for military travel in the late 40s and early 50s.

At the same time, my mother had both a US passport and an IRO/UNRRA Identification document and would arbitrage which was likely to grant her greater leeway when crossing borders.

[Satchmo Distel]

Elvis performed in Canada but I don't think that required a passport. The Colonel was an undocumented Dutch immigrant but never left US soil AFAIK (he'd have been unable to). I'm not sure how the Colonel ever got valid US ID for doing his business activities or got on flights to Hawaii; nor why he never tried to get citizenship via his US wife.

[ursus arctos]

USians could travel to Canada on a driver's licence in the 60s and 70s (if not later).

[Amor de Cosmos]

USians could travel to Canada on a driver's licence in the 60s and 70s (if not later).

Much later. Drivers licences were good both ways until NAFTA (I think)

Elvis performed in Canada but I don't think that required a passport.

He did. Including the PNE here in Vancouver. A local teenage DJ named Red Robinson spent a couple of hours with him and taped their conversation. It's one of the most comprehensive interviews the young Presley ever gave. Mainly because The Colonel wasn't looking over his shoulder.

[WOM]

I learned today that birth certificates are still all that's required at land crossings up until age 15.

[WOM]

Also, two shows in Toronto and two in Montreal. My mom was at one of the Toronto shows.

[Satchmo Distel]

Elvis's first flight was from Dallas to Memphis Aug 12 1958 to be with his mother in her final 48 hours.

[Various Artist]

Sounds really unlikely. Army service aside, there's no record of him ever being in the UK, or anywhere outside North America IIRC. Did he even have a passport?

Yes, it's very odd.

Having just searched for the story, apparently the 'fact' was leaked in 2008 on Ken Bruce's Radio 2 show by Bill Kenwright, of all people and places, Kenwright having been friends with Steele since back in the day. It allegedly took place in 1958, two years before Prestwick. And Steele himself seemingly didn't ever want it known.

According to the BBC:

Veteran rock star Tommy Steele has admitted he took Elvis Presley on a secret tour of London in 1958.

For more than 50 years, Presley fans have believed the only time he ever set foot in the UK was during a stop-over at Prestwick Airport in March 1960.

But theatre producer Bill Kenwright revealed Steele's secret on Radio 2.

In a note passed to the Daily Mail, Steele said he "swore never to divulge publicly" what took place and he "regrets" that news leaked out.

The 71-year-old, who is currently appearing in a production of Dr Dolittle in Woking, said: "I can only hope he [Presley] can forgive me.

"It was an event shared by two young men sharing the same love of their music and the same thrill of achieving something unimaginable."

Speaking to Radio 2 presenter Ken Bruce, Kenwright revealed Presley struck up a friendship with Steele after ringing him up.

When the rock legend flew into London for a day, Steele apparently took him round the city, showing him famous landmarks such as the Houses of Parliament.

More from a further linked page:

Mr Kenwright, 62, a friend of Tommy Steele, said: "Elvis came to England. Nobody thinks he did and I hope Tommy doesn't go mad when I tell you.

"Tommy got a phone call one night. It said: "They tell me you're good' and Tommy replied: 'Who's this?'

"The caller said: 'It's Elvis,' and Tommy said: 'Get outta here.' And Elvis said: 'Are you as good as me?'

"And they talked and they got a friendship. Elvis flew in for a day."

Secret tour

He said Mr Steele had shown Elvis round London, including the Houses of Parliament.

Elvis, who would have been 23 at the time of the visit, had joined the US Army in March 1958 and was posted to Germany.

It was during his time in the army that he made a brief stop-over at Prestwick Airport in 1960, on his way back to base.