One night in October 1981, I was tucking into an Indian takeaway at home when I got a call from someone calling himself ‘Cliff, Cliff Richard’. I just giggled. I thought someone was having a laugh.
The guys in the takeaway who’d handed me my chicken tikka masala were always playing pranks on me, and I thought this was just another one.
The week before, I’d met two former members of Cliff’s 1960s backing band, but that hardly seemed relevant. I just happened to be staying in the same Brighton hotel as Hank Marvin and Brian Bennett, then midway through a Shadows tour.
As I was playing in the Women’s Tennis Association event in Brighton and they were big tennis fans, they’d decided to come to watch me compete. I was playing well at the time and had just beaten world No 1 Tracy Austin in the quarter-finals.
So I gave them tickets and they watched me win a close match against Barbara Potter in the semis, then beat Mima Jausovec in the final. I was on cloud nine, so thrilled to…
