Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is an English singer, songwriter, pianist, and composer. Collaborating with lyricist Bernie Taupin since 1967 on more than 30 albums, John has sold more than 300 million records, making him one of the best-selling music artists. He has more than fifty Top 40 hits in the UK Singles Chart and US Billboard Hot 100, including seven number ones in the UK and nine in the US, as well as seven consecutive number-one albums in the US. His tribute single "Candle in the Wind 1997", rewritten in dedication to Diana, Princess of Wales, sold over 33 million copies worldwide and is the best-selling single in the history of the UK and US singles charts. He has also produced records and occasionally acted in films. John owned Watford F.C. from 1976 to 1987 and from 1997 to 2002. He is an honorary life president of the club.
Joseph Fiennes stars in compelling new play Dear England at the National Theatre – review
We’re aware that a play about football isn’t the sort of thing we’d usually cover, but Dear England piqued our interest so we thought we’d take a trip to the National Theatre to see what it was all about.
Written by James Graham – responsible for the excellent Best of Enemies on the West End last year, and who co-wrote the Olivier-winning musical Tammy Faye with Elton John and Jake Shears – it tells the story of Gareth Southgate’s tenure as England manager.
The play stars Joseph Fiennes, who looks remarkably like Southgate, in the lead role. While football may be the backdrop, there’s a lot more to this production than a chronological recent history of the beautiful game.
Unsurprisingly for a piece written by James Graham there’s a lot of politics at play here – with events unfolding between 2016 and 2022 we see a fair amount of the political turmoil that has been occurring during this period, with a variety of references to the premierships of Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, and major events including Brexit and the Covid pandemic.
