THE date was set for Thursday, April 26, 1973. The invitations arrived in the form of a first-class Great Western Railway ticket. The ticket was clipped on boarding the train, known back in the day as a ‘football special’— a Pullman hired specifically to take supporters to matches. It set off from Paddington station at 6.40pm, with a stated return of 11.35pm. ‘Drinks, goodies, food and music,’ were promised for the journey and the destination was revealed as ‘Moreton On Marsh’. Recollections as to the food, music and goodies served on the 1½-hour journey are sketchy, however— mostly because the drinks provided on the train turned out to be a surfeit of Champagne.
The party had been arranged to celebrate the launch of Rocket Records, a new, independent label founded by Elton John, now Sir Elton. The singer had previously been signed to DJM Records with his lyricist partner Bernie Taupin. However, tensions over remuneration and, ultimately, guitarist Davey Johnstone’s desire to put out a solo album, which DJM was not keen on, prompted Sir Elton to launch his own business. The new company was named for Stephenson’s Rocket, the famous steam locomotive from 1829, and Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going To Be A Long, Long Time), the number-two hit single from Sir Elton’s Honky Château album, released in 1972. Its first employee was business all-rounder Stuart Epps, who’d jumped ship with Sir Elton from DJM. ‘Elton had just released the Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player album and by now all the albums were going to number one,’ says Mr Epps. ‘Elton’s career was roaring and he wanted to put something back by signing artists to his own label.’
この記事は Country Life UK の May 10, 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Country Life UK の May 10, 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds