Sir Cliff Richard rivalry unmasked: Singer's snub over Elvis Presley weight exposed

Sir Cliff explained that during his rise to fame in the Sixties, fans were often split between himself and Elvis – many preferred the Hound Dog crooner.

He felt their rivalry could have played a part in him never being able to break the US and had “no luck” on numerous “jinxed” tours.

During one, he recalled performing to an audience of 200 people, one-fifth of the theatre’s capacity, because it was during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Sir Cliff hoped he would become a big name after a performance on The Ed Sullivan Show – which gave The Beatles their international break two years later in 1962 – but had no luck. 

Despite being in competition with Elvis, he was a lifelong fan and attributed him as his muse – someone who helped him morph out of being “plain old Harry Webb”.

But whenever the star was in Memphis, Tennessee, where The King lived, he was “not in town at the time” and “never home” when he called.

In one such incident, his manager Peter Gormley arranged for the singer’s father Vernon to give him a tour of Graceland, his estate. 

There he saw his muse’s bed, guitars and a “lavish hearth rug with Elvis’ face on it” – and on another trip went to one of his favourite places to eat. 

The King reportedly went to the local restaurant “all the time” and inside he was allowed to eat where his “hero normally sat” in the “exact same corner seat”.

Sir Cliff recalled: “What does Elvis usually eat?’ I asked him. ‘He always orders frogs’ legs,’ he told me. ‘Shall I get you half a dozen?’ 

“I pictured the dainty little nibbles that I had occasionally had when I had been in Paris. ‘No, let’s get a dozen,’ I suggested.”

READ MORE: Cliff Richard’s horror at Coronation Street ‘chubby’ snub exposed

He “was horrified” by the remark about his weight and it spurred him to go on a diet that left him with a 30-inch waist – the size he maintains today.

The words seemed to stick with the star, who regularly referenced the incident throughout his book and spoke out about his diet tips.

He claimed to be in “rude health” more recently due to playing tennis three times a week, going to the gym and avoiding certain types of food. 

Sir Cliff relished being “basically the same weight” that he was in 1962 and wrote a final reference to his own weight snub.

He added: “A lot slimmer than I was when Minnie Caldwell on Coronation Street declared her love for ‘that chubby Cliff Richard’!”

Cliff Richard: The Dreamer was published by Ebury Press in October and is available to purchase here.