Madeleine McCann Cliffhanger: Cliff Richard Signs Up
MADDIE WATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann, Kate McCann and Gerry McCann
TIME for a Madeleine McCann tabloid story:
Cliff Richard has owned a vineyard just outside Praia da Luz?
Cliff has been signing copies of his book not 100 metres away from the McCann apartment. Anorak’s woman on the scene notices that Cliff was at Baptista – just behind the infamous Tapas Bar. He is signing bottles of his plonk.
Cliff is a good pal of Tony Blair.
Tony Blair was Prime Minster when Madeleine McCann went missing. Her disappearance escalated to be the main news story very fast. Diplomatic pressure was brought to bear on the matter quickly.
Note: Cliff Richard’s wine tastes like crushed mistletoe on a bed of bachelor pad and new tennis ball. Delish. And more than good enough for holidaymakers…
Cliff:
Note II: Expat will buy anything so long as its alcoholic and reminds them of hom.
August 9th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
First. Hah!
August 9th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
That’s spelled frist, if you don’t mind!
August 9th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Aaahhh. Cliffy was my first love Anorak. leave him alone!
August 9th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Look out… Cliff!
August 9th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Yes, he and Blair are great friends. Remember having read they spent, I think 2, holidays in his villa on Barbados … Also read somewhere that they met through the British Ambassador to Portugal, Sir John Holmes, in January 2000
Where did Anorak test the wine? I understood it’s very popular and easily sells to the U.K.
August 9th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
CARMEN, I googled a bit. Indeed there is an EX-priest obviously:
“Cliff’s general factotum and companion, ex-Roman Catholic priest Father John McElynn, described by one source in the story as a “meddling Svengali” … [the story was an uproar mid last year amongst the personnel at the Algarve estate].
August 9th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
I found “confirmation” about 2 holidays in Barbados in news.scotman.com of August 2005:
“When the Prime Minister outed himself this month by attending a memorial service in Barbados - after insisting that his holiday destination be kept secret for security reasons - nobody was in the slightest bit surprised to discover that Tony Blair’s mystery host was Richard. It is the second year in a row that the Blairs have had the use of the singer’s luxurious Caribbean retreat.
For an image-conscious politician who has courted such arbiters of cool as Liam Gallagher, Damon Albarn and Paul Weller, Blair’s incipient friendship with the Peter Pan of rock’n roll is intriguing. “I think Cliff Richard tells Blair what God is thinking,” Rory Bremner joked recently. “If the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Pope have telephone lines to God, then Blair thinks Cliff has got broadband.”
Am I right that Blair turned to Roman-Catholicism June 2007 [and announced his resignation as PM in May that year]?
August 9th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Oof .. Haven’t spent a thought on Cliff Richard since I was 10/ 11 [when I was a Cliff fan, the only one. All others were in Elvis...], yet am now googling all over the place. This priest intrigues me. A Rasputin comes to mind
IMO, allegedly, etc p.p.
August 9th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Only site were I seem to be able to find personal details ["John McElynn was born in Queens, New York, in 1953 to a large ... "] is privacy protected
All the rest is newspaper articles and gossip. He doesn’t seem to be a “popular” person… Just read that he has been bringing up to 14 family members from the States to the Algarve for holidays, none of which seems to have pleased the house staff 
August 9th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
The Cliff picture, has anyone apart from me spotted that mysterious shadow in the background?
August 9th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyJqc1m0Pcs
August 9th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
i gather a bottle of cliffplonk went missing
wait a month and then inform sky news
August 9th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
chenier Says:
August 9th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Of course, then there’s the posters who are not dumb, but are pretending to be…
—————————————————————————————–
And, indeed, the reverse……..
August 9th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Carmen, who was it again who kept referring to “look at the priest” without detailing WHICH priest?
August 9th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
JJ
Just a metter of opinion/taste about the picture. I didn’t miss any of the references but felt it was not Anorak’s usual standard of respect for Madeleine, which you normally manage to maintain superbly whilst still pitching it just right in terms of satirising the media.
Maybe if you think of a parent or grandparent of the child in question and looking at that picture….? But I know they are unlikely to visit this site.
No offence meant, just my take on it.
Must get ready to go out. It takes longer and longer these days……
M and A
Maria
it was, I agree, a harsh picture but Patti Hearst didn’t go willingly, and was beyond all doubt a victim.
Yeh know what you mean about longer and longer…
August 9th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Châtelaine
It wasn’t Gandolf himself, was it? Maybe wrong.
————-gone.
August 9th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Maria Says:
August 9th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
JJ
Just a metter of opinion/taste about the picture. I didn’t miss any of the references but felt it was not Anorak’s usual standard of respect for Madeleine, [...] Maybe if you think of a parent or grandparent of the child in question and looking at that picture….? [...]”
****
You’re NOT talking about the Sir Cliff picture, are you
August 9th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Carmen, you’re kidding…?! Banging about the priest AND the Renault Espace????
August 9th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Renault Espache!
August 9th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
I thought it was gandolf… didn’t that cause someone or other to get annoyed with me when I said I shared some of Gandolf’s theories but not the one about the priest?
and as I said before, LEAVE CLIFF ALONE. He was the love of my life until the Beatles came along. I still feel guilty for deserting him so readily.
August 9th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Carmen Says:
August 9th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Maria
I think Sir Cliff is very, very, unlikely to have a parent or far less grandparent looking at his picture these days - I do believe he is 75 or thereabouts.
++++
Ooooh, Carmen, don’t let him hear that. I guess he’s 66-67 or something …
August 9th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Carmen… wash you mouth out with soap and water. Cliff is a mere 67 years old.
August 9th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
from the last thread..
val Says:
“[...] Fiona Payne”s statement in April of this year says when she went to the apartment after Madeleine was missing, Kate was like a lunatic, flailing arms, punching walls etc. Fiona Payne said she tried to pacify her, the twins slept through all the commotion which Fiona could not understand saying “it was weird”.
+++++
She also said that “[...] Kate kept going into the twins, kept putting her hands on the twins to check they were breathing [...]” …
That is very revealing, IMHO. Why would anyone do that, even once ?
August 9th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
I believe it was gandolf that went on about the priest because of what ”brother” Seb told him?
Cliff 75?? I don’t think so! How old are you Carmen for God’s sake?
August 9th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
PeterMac Says:
August 9th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
from the last thread..
val Says:
“[...] Fiona Payne”s statement in April of this year says when she went to the apartment after Madeleine was missing, Kate was like a lunatic, flailing arms, punching walls etc. Fiona Payne said she tried to pacify her, the twins slept through all the commotion which Fiona could not understand saying “it was weird”.
+++++
She also said that “[...] Kate kept going into the twins, kept putting her hands on the twins to check they were breathing [...]” …
That is very revealing, IMHO. Why would anyone do that, even once ?
*****
That’s why I posted the second half, PeterMac. It is indeed very revealing. She checked nervously whether they were still breathing WITHOUT asking for help, as if she knew WHAT she was checking for and what could have gone wrong …
August 9th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
great to have cliffy on board:
Living Doll
The Young Ones
Summer Holiday
It’s All In The Game
Don’t Talk To Him
The Twelfth Of Never
The Minute You’re Gone
On My Word
Visions
It’s All Over
With The Eyes Of A Child
Power To All Our Friends
(You Keep Me) Hanging On
It’s Only Me You’ve Left Behind
Devil Woman
We Don’t Talk Anymore
to name but a few…
August 9th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Ade… I loved the now politically incorrect Mumblin’ Mosie and also of course, Move It.
aaahhh. I have all his 45’s in the attic!
August 9th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
ade
love ‘em all!
But Power to all our friends does remind of that awful knee swinging cringe stuff in the Euro song contest.
August 9th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
coolandcalm Says:
August 9th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
___________________________________
Mumbliní, mumbliní, mum-mum
Ninety-nine, nighty-nine-nine, ah-ah
Mumbliní, mumbliní, mum-mum
Ninety-nine, nighty-nine-nine, woh
shouldn’t that me mumblin’ katie at the pj question session?
we should be trolled
August 9th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
coolandcalm Says
I have all his 45’s in the attic!
+++++++++++++++++++++
Best place for them !!!