ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER’S 70TH
he told Piers Morgan: “I am a ladies’ man who can never make love.” 37 He wrote Starlight Express when he couldn’t get permission for a Thomas the Tank Engine musical. 38 Spice girl Mel B auditioned for Starlight Express in 1995. 39 The top speed recorded by a skater in Starlight Express was 40mph. 40 Under the pseudonym Doctor Spin, Lloyd Webber released the hit single Tetris in 1992. 41 He is second in the Sunday Times Rich List – behind Sir Paul McCartney – for UK people in music. 42 His son Nicholas, 38, is also a composer. 43 He was so nervous, he reportedly didn’t attended the Phantom of the Opera’s 1986 premiere. 44 The Phantom’s make-up takes two hours to apply. 45 His cat Otto destroyed the score for the Phantom sequel by jumping on the computer. 46 In the West End, he owns the Adelphi Theatre, Cambridge Theatre, Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Her Majesty’s Theatre, London Palladium and New London Theatre. 47 Prince Edward once worked as a production assistant for the Really Useful Company. 48 He wrote a short musical Cricket (Hearts and Wickets), commissioned for Queen Elizabeth II’s 60th birthday. 49 Aspects of Love from 1988 has five tunes from Cricket. 50 Roger Moore was cast as George in the original West End production of Aspects of Love, but quit during rehearsals. 51 Andrew once said about leaving his PALS AGAIN With Nicole Scherzinger this week fortune to his five kids: “I am not in favour of children suddenly finding a lot of money coming their way because then they have no incentive to work.” 52 Hugh Jackman caught his acting break in a 1996 production of Sunset Boulevard in Australia. 53 Actress Elaine Paige performed Just One Glance, an early version of With One Look from Sunset Boulevard, at Andrew’s wedding reception in 1991. 54 Andrew and Tim wrote Elvis’s 1977 song It’s Easy For You. 55 In 2004, Michael Crawford had to pull out of playing the obese character Count Fosco in Woman In White because of overheating in the fat suit. 56 Singer Jessie J was 11 when she was cast as Brat in the West End production of Whistle Down The Wind. 57 The same cast included actors Hannah Tointon and James Buckley and Sugababe Jade Ewen. 58 In 2009, Jade represented the UK in Eurovision with It’s My Time, composed by Andrew. They came fifth. 59 Boyzone’s cover of Whistle Down The Wind’s No Matter What sold three million copies worldwide. 60 The title of 2000’s The Beautiful Game was inspired by Pele’s autobiography, My Life and the Beautiful Game. 61 Let Us Love in Peace from The Beautiful Game was sung by Shonagh Daly as the closing song at the Ground Zero memorial service in October 2001. 62 Denise Van Outen, Marti Webb and Patsy Palmer have all starred in the one-woman show Tell Me On A Sunday. 63 Connie Fisher, the winner of Andrew’s talent show How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria in 2006, found she had holes in her vocal chords and was told she would never sing again. 64 Lee Mead, who won talent show Any Dream Will Do, went on to marry Denise Van Outen, who was a judge on the BBC show. They split later. 65 Jessie Buckley, runner up of talent show I’d Do Anything in 2008, will star alongside Renee Zellweger in the new Judy Garland movie. 66 Former Hollyoaks actress and Celebrity Big Brother’s Stephanie Davis got her acting break on talent show Over The Rainbow in 2010. 67 Stephen Ward the musical, based on the Profumo affair, closed after four months on the West End in 2013 and was slammed as a flop by critics. 68 Andrew accepted an invitation from Donald Trump to have coffee during the primary US elections. 69 Phantom Of The Opera is the second highest grossing musical ever, raking in £4.2billion globally after the Lion King, which has made £5.6billion. 70 Andrew was criticised in 201 after flying across the Atlantic to vote for tax credit cuts for Britain’s poorest people, in the House of Lords.