21st September 1969, Sunday

[Graeme]

Day number 12676Site Date Map

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[Alan]

UK fans - well a selected few - got to see the 68 Special for the first time in the UK today.

The UK convention got special permission to show it. It really was quite a catch and thanks lay firmly at the feet of Todd Slaughter who not only badgered everyone he could in order to be able to show it but was probably the person most likely responsible for the BBC deciding to air it later this year.
Even the BBC turned up at the convention to film not only the convention but aso parts of the special as they were shown.

These clips were shown in late September early October as part of the BBC programme "24 Hours".

We know the timeline for this as a copy of Jim Ellis's "El-News" for October 1969 mentions it and the convention.

Elvis monthly's contributor Anne E Nixon wrote the following:

Todd went all out to promote the 1969 convention. It had to surpass the previous one, and he aimed to raise £1000 for charity. Permission was received from Hal Wallis to screen "Loving You", but finding a copy was another thing! After trying everywhere, Todd located a copy by accident while visiting NBC's London offices. Never one to think small, he was also trying to get the 1968 Special to show at the convention! Permission to show the Special was only received at the eleventh hour, by which time Todd was on the verge of a nervous breakdown with all the worry. Tickets, priced at 12/6d (62.1/2p) each had been selling like hot cakes for the event, to be held on September 21, at Leicester. Commemorative T-shirts sold for the same amount.

On convention day, 2100 fans boarded their decorated branch coaches, plastered their cars with Elvis pictures, or let the train take the strain, and converged on Leicester. Every heart was filled with hope... hope that Todd had pulled off his promise to obtain the ground-breaking television special which American fans had been raving over for the past nine months.
A BBC team from the "24 Hours" programme arrived with their attendant cameras, lights and sound equipment and the invited guests gathered in the Green Room. Todd welcomed the largest-ever gathering of Presley fans. Tony Prince, who'd been plugging the event with a trio of Elvis turns every evening on his Luxembourg show, joined Todd to amuse the crowd with a skit on "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" Tony appeared in a gold suit, after Dave Kaye had sung, and amazed everyone with a seven-minute version of "What'd I Say?" sung partly standing on his head. The TV crew loved this! Elvis, who had recently made a stage comeback at the International Hotel in Las Vegas, had been wowing audiences with this song.
Emperor Rosko and Jimmy Savile were warmly greeted by the fans, who lapped up Savile's tales of his meeting with Elvis. Peter Aldersley hosted a panel game with panellists Albert Hand, Tony Prince, DJ Kid Jensen, and singers Anita Harris and Spencer Davis. Davis, who'd recently seen Elvis in Las Vegas, had turned up out of the blue and was collared by Todd to be a panellist before he could "keep on running". Anita Harris enjoyed herself so much that she cancelled a waiting taxi and later returned to London by train.
During the afternoon, the Earl of Lanesborough (who it was said had Presley discs in his collection) accepted a cheque on behalf of the Guide Dogs For The Blind Association, while Todd accepted a Silver disc from Disc And Music Echo for 250,000 sales of "In The Ghetto." As well as BBC-TV filming, Jimmy Savile was taping interviews for his BBC Radio 1 "Savile's Travels" show.
While all of the above happenings were enjoyable to watch, the filmed portion of the convention was what everyone was really waiting for. The atmosphere in the De Montfort Hall couldn't have been more electric if Elvis himself had been about to step on stage. The lights dimmed, and on the large screen the king threatened, "If you're lookin' for trouble..." We were looking for the return of the worlds greatest entertainer, and what a homecoming it was! To be amongst the first fans in Britain to see the Special was a privilege and anyone hearing the applause and cheers would have thought Elvis himself was making a personal appearance. We were stunned, thrilled, amazed and mesmerised by the talent and charisma emanating from the screen. This was the first time that "the real Elvis", as opposed to the matinee idol, had been seen by all but a handful of those present, since his early Stateside TV appearances had never been seen - even on film - in Britain at that time.
An excellent print of "Loving You" rounded off what may have been the best convention ever staged, and next evening, the "24 Hours" programme showed excerpts from the convention, including Tony Prince's headstand as he sang, fans dancing in the aisles, and interviews with various people. Some of this footage was used in the 1981 film "This Is Elvis."

[Alan]

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