I am proud to call myself a massive Cliff Richard fan | Rick Jackson

Cliff Richard is cool.

Too long has Cliff Richard been cast as too old or irrelevant to the mass radio and TV audience.

What rubbish.

Did you see Cliff on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories on ITV this week?

We were channel-hopping and stumbled across it.

For me, I’ve always had a quiet respect for Cliff and as a radio presenter, a like for many of his songs too.

But it’s not been deemed ‘cool’ to say so.

Luckily I work on a radio station that has continued to play Cliff Richard songs and what great songs they are.

After this interview with Piers, I feel I’m able to say this now.

When you reel out some of his songs; We Don’t Talk Anymore, Carrie, Devil Woman, The Only Way Out, Some People, The Day I Met Marie, it whets the appetite for anyone who enjoys a ‘guilty pleasure’ or two.

Move It is regarded as the first British rock‘n’roll record.

Even John Lennon said ‘before Cliff and the Shadows, there had been nothing worth listening to in British music’.

His world fell apart in 2014 after accusations were made about him.

His apartment in Berkshire was searched and the BBC broadcast it live.

Cliff was never arrested or charged and has since won damages against the police and the BBC for invasion of privacy.

After the appalling crimes of Jimmy Savile came to light, Operation Yewtree went after many celebrities after allegations were made.

I wonder if more careers were ruined than convictions made.

Cliff is a national treasure and should be treated in the same light as Paul McCartney and Elton John.

They are living legends of British popular music.

I am drawing the line at wearing a Cliff T-shirt and facemask.

Also, please don’t get me a Cliff calendar for Christmas.

I, for one, will continue to play Cliff Richard records on the radio.

After the year we’ve all had, I bet you can’t wait to hear Mistletoe and Wine or Saviours Day play!

Let’s show our appreciation for our sporting heroes

We are a funny lot, us Brits.We pray to have sporting winners but when we do, we like to knock them for being too arrogant.

Aryton Senna has god-like status in Brazil, the Germans revere Michael Schumacher.

So how will we Brits see Lewis Hamilton when he finally retires as the greatest Formula 1 driver of all time?

We call Andy Murray boring – or Scottish!

We’ve hardly taken four time Tour de France winner Chris Froome to our hearts and when it comes to the England football team, we only seem to remember those who missed in penalty shoot outs.

Come on Britain, it’s time to be proud of our sporting heroes.

Sorry sir, the playlist made be drive so fast – I promise!

The wonders of modern technology – oh how they can get you into trouble!

You may have a Spotify account or an Apple Music like me. I’m in the car, with Apple CarPlay on and notice the ‘browse’ section.

I picked ‘Audio Comfort Food and delved deep into a world of Zero 7, A ir, The XX and many more chilled out artists. I was almost floating along the M27.

Then I changed it to ‘ Hardcore Rock’ by accident on the A27 and started clipping every apex and revving out the engine at each junction, all of a sudden I was Lewis Hamilton!

I had to rein that in straight away. These options may be fantastic but be careful not to lose yourself.