Checking in... Paul Nicholas
Actor and singer
EARLIEST HOLIDAY MEMORY?
STAYING in Sheerness, on the isle of Sheppey, when i was five. the highlight was going for a donkey ride. We used to take a coach there from Victoria station in London.
FIRST TRIP ABROAD?
VISITING my Flemish relatives in Bredene, near Ostend, aged ten. a lot of Belgians used to ride bicycles back then, so it was quite safe for a child like me to cycle along the coast on my own.
HOW WAS TOURING IN YOUR POP MUSIC DAYS?
My Band, the Savages, supported Screaming Lord Sutch at the StarClub in Hamburg in the 1960s. But driving there and back in our old Bedford van, without heating, in winter was no joke. We took it in turns to sit over the engine in the middle to keep warm.
FAVOURITE FOREIGN COUNTRY?
I LOVE america because there’s just so much of it, and Portugal. i have a small holiday home on the algarve that i visit in spring and autumn when it’s not too hot.
DO YOU LIKE PORTUGUESE CUISINE?
ROAST beef and yorkshire pud is about as exotic as it gets for me, food wise.
DO YOU SPEAK PORTUGUESE?
I CAN say thank you — obrigado — in Portuguese and that’s about it. But i’m always polite.
MOST MEMORABLE TRAVEL EXPERIENCE?
A TOSS-UP between seeing elvis live in Las Vegas in the 1970s and taking a dip in the thermal waters of iceland’s Blue Lagoon a few years ago. they say the waters are good for you, so i like to think i went in a septuagenarian and came out a 23-year-old.
ARE YOU A GOOD FLYER?
NO. i could fly to my place in Portugal in three hours, but i prefer to get the ferry to Santander in Spain, spend a night in Salamanca, and then drive down to the algarve, despite it taking three days.
DREAM DESTINATION?
I’D LOVE to visit australia but can’t face the long flight, so i’m waiting for Richard Branson or Jeff Bezos to launch a rocket that will take me there in three hours.
YORK MEMBERY
Paul’s autobiography Musicals, Marigolds & Me (Fantom Publishing) and new album Paul Nicholas Gold (Demon Music Group) are out now.