SIR Cliff Richard once turned down the opportunity to meet legendary singer Elvis Presley - because he was too fat.
Richard, a huge fan of the Hound Dog hitmaker, insists his biggest regret is declining to have his picture taken with the overweight star, assuming he would one day have the chance to be photographed with a slimmed-down Presley.
He says, "The big regret is when I had the chance to meet him in America, I chose not to because he was going through a really big, fat...he was grotesquely overweight.
"They kept saying they wanted a photograph of me and Elvis and I thought, 'Hang on, I don't want to have that Elvis with me on my wall - I'd rather have the magnificent Elvis that everybody knows and loves'. I said, 'If we wait long enough, he does movies and he goes on these fantastic diets, then we can have a picture of me with my idol looking like my idol'.
"Now I really regret it. I'd rather have met him overweight than never."