How rude was Cliff Richard to Alison Hammond?! 😲

[Almost40andprobablynotfabulous]

Hi,

Had TM on in the background earlier and I was absolutely shocked at how casually rude Cliff Richard was to Alison Hammond. Not directly to her, but MASSIVELY inconsiderate and offensive nevertheless.

He was talking about the reason he missed his chance to meet Elvis and he explained that Elvis was overweight at the time and he knew he'd put up a picture on his wall of him and Elvis, but didn't want to if he "overweight and didn't look good" 🤨🙄 He went on to say something else not looking good if you were carrying extra weight and you could see how upset Alison was. She came back with something and tried to be humorous about it, but I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't want to call him out on it there and then. And obviously it won't have just been Alison who would have been offended by his clumsy, tone deaf comments.

Did anyone see it? So bad 🫤

Do you know what, I think you hit the nail on the head.

don’t forget the moral of the story folks - meet your heroes, even if they are fat 😂 what an insightful guy 😂😂

Quite,

It was a rather hurtful anecdote in the first instance regardless of whether Alison was there.

I really can't imagine Cliff turning any sort of invite down from Elvis, he actually impersonated him at the begginging of his career and Elvis, well he was like God to many artists, especially in England.

None of it makes sense.

I remember him being a pinup on many a bedroom wall and in every teenage magazine going

I always assumed he was asexual, but I really don't care. His only crime in my eyes is that he is soooo naff. The pouting, the posing, the awful clothes and the terrible dance moves.

No it doesn't.

CR is from an Anglo India culture

There seem to have been some misunderstandings about his race in the past. He has one great-grandmother that was half Welsh, half Spanish. That is all. He probably wears a lot of fake tan.

He apparantly had a great great grandmother who was half Indian. That's not a lot of non-British/non-white really.

He definitely wouldn't have Anglo-Indian ways of talking about being fat bluntly.
His family were part of the British Empire's presence in India.

I’ve never liked him… he’s always been abrupt, my grandad actually went to school with him and said he was massively up his own arse back then too.

I struggle to trust a man who appears to be ‘a-sexual’. I was surprised by the results of the Police investigation!

To be fair @CharingX976 is right, insufficient evidence doesn't automatically mean false accusation. And sometimes "false accusations" are mistaken identity false memories, delusions, or other mental health issues rather than malicious.

The thing is we just don't know either way. We weren't there. MN is 99% female, there aren't going to be victims or alleged victims on here to say either way and even then, it's MN, no one knows who we are on here, people can post any old guff. Maybe CR is guilty, maybe he isn't . We don't know. I think what upsets me about the CR posts on here is the way people are so sure about the "kitty" thing. How are you so sure?? That's what I want to know. It makes me think those posters are being goady.

You sure as hell don't know CR. You're unlikely to have known his accusers, most of you weren't even born then!

I remember MN in the days when allegations came out about Jimmy Savile, Micahel LeVell, Freddie Star etc. The world and his dog had their views and speculation but I'm guessing that nobody on here would be close enough to the people involved to know, and the very few that may have been would be the ones keeping quiet and preferring to pursue it through the proper channels. Actually with Jimmy Savile, Rolf Harris etc, we are talking more Gransnet generation anyway, so who knows?

@AnnieSnap do you feel the same about asexual women?? Why is it so hard to believe that some men or women just don't want sex? It may be unusual but it's not hard to believe that some people like being single.

I'm not the generation that uses labels like aromatic or greysexual but it fits me to a T. We do exist you know!

I remember that Jackie story about the girl who went to live on a farm and lost weight as well! You're right maybe it had an impact if we still think about a short cartoon from 40 years ago!

God really? Not Rock bands , Marc Bolan or David Cassidy?

Do you think.

Maybe we'll just see someone who's wrestled with his sexuality and his Christian beliefs.

People comparing him to unsavoury characters, I can't see it with Cliff, he was too handsome, I'm sure he could have had his pick of suitors.
I've felt sorry for Cliff sometimes, I mean there's enough variety in music for everyone to have their hero's, and Cliff was a acceptable package in the late fifties, he was never an artist I think that shocked parents even when he first hit the scene, he was inoffensive.

I think he deserves some respect, to achieve the longevity in the music buisness that he has takes courage.

There is stuff to come out.

@IClaudine @frogswimming the attitude towards fat people had been going on a long time; Enid blyton's attitude about fat characters for example.

I do think fat prejudice is more covert now than it was and I don't think magazines aimed at teenage girls nowadays would publish stories like that. Although fat people are still demonized in much of the culture of today, as regards to teenage magazines there seems more an emphasis on self worth now which is good.

😂

Best comment.
But love Tommy, respect, he was a tour de force.

Time will tell. Personally I don't believe there will.

He was before them, they were 70s.

You have to understand, he was one of the biggest selling stars, apparently third behind Elvis and the Beatles.
He made scores of records and I can't imagine how many were hits
Plus films, theatre and tv shows.

Huge

I don’t find it hard at all to believe that some people do not want sex. Being deliberately celibate is a perfectly reasonable choice. However, it’s extremely rare for an older adult to never have had any sexual interest, especially young males, with their high levels of testosterone.

This reminds me of Eastenders and how Heather was always referred to as 'Fat Hev'

Maybe but why are you sure there is? It seems very odd that people can be so definite about it one way or t'other. Didn't one of the accusers change their story more than once ? Why would a genuine victim do that or maybe the papers made up that bit to discredit the alleged victim? I'm open to either possibility tbh.

Well I'm a woman with high levels of testosterone (PCOS, severe symptoms) and I can take or leave men or sex. Always since I was young child have never been into the idea of marriage. I admittedly have had some degree of sexual desire but very rarely and I just don't do romantic relationships the whole thing seems v alien to me. Boyfriends bore me.to be fair I would say I'm more Aro than Ace, strictly speaking . But I'm not just someone who likes being single although I do. I have since childhood been different from my peers when it comes to sexual interest and always wondered if I was broken until I read about things like this.

I judge people by who their friends are.
A long term family friends' sister was a member of Cliff Richards tour band since the early eighties for around 20 years. She is very fond of him but describes him as a bit naive at times.
I think his generation can be more 'fatist',and I suspect he didn't consider his comments as offensive to glamorous, confident Alison.

People comparing him to unsavoury characters, I can't see it with Cliff, he was too handsome, I'm sure he could have had his pick of suitors.

I don't think stuff will come out, but being able to pull doesn't stop someone being rapey etc. Look at Brand.

I have a soft spot for Cliff, growing up with his music - both the late 50s/early 60s Summer Holiday stuff with Una Stubbs, then his 70s incarnation where he looked different but still young, singing great songs like We Don't Talk Anymore and Devil Woman.
Of course, he doesn't get much respect cos he never wrote his own songs, never had any R&B credentials nor any Pop Art/Art College sensibility. He was sort of the Jason Donovan of his day.

Yes, his Elvis anecdote has done the rounds over the years, he wanted to wait til he was in better shape when he met him, it wasn't to be.

Re the other allegations, well, if you think. he was guilty then maybe you harbour suspicions also about DJ Paul Gambaccuni, late Tory Cabinet minister Leon Britton and late Field Marhsall Lord Bramall, who also got smeared in a way I can relate to, having been falsely set up by Surrey's Social Services after I whistleblow one of their care homes to the local press. They can get very, very nasty and they work to a playbook.
We also have the small consideration that those going after this were the Met Police and Surrey Police and they are both bent when push comes to shove. Their motive? To make up for not investigating Jimmy Savile at the time - because he was a fellow Mason? Possibly. Other motives? If the others were guilty, they could make a nice bit of cash selling stories about the celebs to The Sun newspaper, with whom they appear to have a cosy deal, possibly the reason they continued with Caroline Flack's arrest which led to her suicide.
Or maybe to distract from allegations in the pipeline about Prince Andrew? Classic misdirection tactic. Or the grooming gang allegations which - let's be clear - did seem to be carried out under the noses of/in conjunction with local authorities such as Greater Manchester, Rotherham, Rochdale, Telford etc.
It was convenient for them to believe crap put out by Carl Beech because they wanted to pursue that narrative. Much of it could have been fact checked and dismissed as bunk, they chose not to do that.
Not wishing to lose face, they kept the stories bubbling under to allow for anyone to come forward with juicier stories; didn't happen.
Beech winds up doing 18 years in jail when it's almost not his fault; had the police checked his story it wouldn't have gone on for so long.

Trust me - if there really were a nationwide state-authorised paedophile ring, the Met wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. They have no form on that but they DO have form for covering it all up.
Oh, another theory is they went after celebs as a warning shot to the Tory Government who under Home Secretary May were going after Met corruption, it's the old 'You've got something on us? We'll get something on YOU' tactic. May's initiative fell away somewhat, as evidenced by the mire the Met is currently seen to be.