CHER CLASS

Not even a wet weekend under canvas (or whatever that nylon material is they use for tents nowadays) in Eastbourne can convince me that this isn’t the best summer EVER. And one of its enduring moments – up there with Harry Kane’s golden boot and Geraint Thomas’s yellow jersey – has to be Cher’s platinum performance in Mamma Mia! For a 72-year-old mega star and survivor of a tough childhood, an alcoholic father, abusive marriage, a second marriage to a heroin addict, single motherhood, a succession of toyboys, chronic illness, estrangement from a drugaddicted son, career highs and terrible lows, there is a strange sense of victory when she sings to Andy Garcia’s Fernando. “If I had to do the same again, I would, my friend,” were words surely written for Cher.