Cliff leads crowd booing the Beeb
Fans vent anger during gig over his ordeal
I understand your feelings. I felt it many times.. So on the count of 3, one last boo CLIFF AFTER FANS BOOED THE BBC DURING HIS PERFORMANCE
SIR Cliff Richard led a crowd of angry fans in a boo against the BBC during a gig.
There were three outbreaks of jeering when he mentioned the broadcaster, which he recently beat in a privacy case that took a huge toll on his health.
Begging fans to stop, Cliff said: “Now listen, I understand your feelings. I have felt it many times myself but it’s always confusing to me because I was only dealing with the top echelon of people who run the BBC.
“The real BBC are the people who you listen to on the radio, the engineers, the presenters, the producers, they have been nothing but kind to me.”
But the pop veteran then added: “So on the count of three, let’s have one last boo.”
Sir Cliff mentioned the BBC at the Royal Albert Hall show in London as he explained how it had helped him choose which single to put out from his new album, Rise Up.
The release features his first original material in 14 years and the title track made its debut on Radio 2’s Ken Bruce show, which has 8.7million listeners. And he told the crowd after their final bout of booing: “It’s good to get it out.”
Meanwhile, Cliff, who was performing as he turned 78 on Sunday, was stunned when his pal Bonnie Tyler got on stage to sing Happy Birthday to him with the audience.
Bonnie, 67, told them: “He’s got tears in his eyes. He loves you all. I love you too.”
Cliff sued the BBC over its coverage of a police search of his home in Sunningdale, Berks, in 2014 amid claims of historical sex abuse – which he was never arrested or charged over.
At the High Court, Mr Justice Mann awarded £210,000 in damages, calling the coverage a “very serious” invasion of privacy. He also refused the BBC permission to challenge the ruling.
The broadcaster has repeated its apology to Cliff over the distress it caused him and added: “We will think very carefully about our approach in the future – both in tone and style.”
But the BBC also stressed that the ruling “represents a dramatic shift against press freedom”.
Experts have warned that the ruling will make it difficult for media organisations to name people in future.
Cliff is on tour ahead of the release of his new album next month. He also has his 2019 calendar out – his 40th.
His calendar sales over those 40 years have totalled more than 1.5 million.