41. 21 Today becomes Cliff's first No.1 album
14 October, 1961Another part-rock, part-ballad album,
21 Today was released on the exact date of Cliff's twenty-first birthday. It went on to become his first No.1 album, taking over, interestingly enough, from the Shadows' first LP which had been in the top spot for the past five weeks.
42. First tour of Australia and New Zealand
15 October, 1961
Straight after a 21st birthday party in London, Cliff Richard and the Shadows hopped on a plane for their first journey down under. He actually turned 21 on the flight.
On this tour Cliff played in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and then on to New Zealand. He has since toured this region more than thirty times and has had the third highest amount of hit singles of any artist in Australia.
It was on this tour that Cliff began to explore spiritual matters after the loss of his father. He would later say, 'Perhaps that is also part of the reason Australia is a very special place for me - it was there that I began a most important spiritual journey and began to grapple with my ideas about religion and mortality.'
43. Cliff stars in The Young Ones
13 December, 1961Cliff's first starring role (and colour
film) was in the wildly successful 1961 musical which borrowed more from the old MGM musicals than the rock'n'roll culture.
The story of a group of teenagers fighting to save a youth club was light and accessible
to all age groups, and talented actors such as Robert Morely, Richard O'Sullivan, Teddy Green and Melvin Hayes all contributed to a film which revolutionised the British film industry. The task of casting a female lead was a little more difficult as she couldn't be too attractive so as to cause the fans to resent her, nor could she be too ugly to be believable as Cliff's love interest. For a while Barbara Streisand was considered for the role, but producer Kenneth Harper didn't believe she'd be right for the role, and Carole Gray was eventually chosen.
The film went on to become a massive success and established the mould for his next three films to follow.
44. First single to enter the charts at No.1
January, 1962
Following the monstrous success of the movie, the title song from The Young Ones became Cliff's first single to enter the UK charts at No.1, and in three days no less!
With pre-orders of over one million copies, the single was released on the Friday and by Monday was sitting atop the British charts. It would remain on the charts for 21 weeks.
45. Coronation Street prompts Cliff to change his lifestyle
April, 1962
Perhaps one of the most unusual milestones in Cliff's life was a reference to him on the British soap Coronation Street.
It was a comment by one of the original characters on the show, Minnie Caldwell, while listening to a brass band
that 'Isn't that Cliff Richard a lovely, chubby lad?' which prompted him give up his favourite drink of Tizer with a scoop of ice cream and Indian sweets and adopt a strict a strict diet which saw his weight drop from 12 to 11 stone where it has stayed ever since.
He now only eats one large meal a day in the evening, with a light snack at lunch time.
46. Summer Holiday is released
11 January, 1963
The second film with Cliff in the leading role was another lavish musical, this taking many of the same team that made
The Young Ones a success across Europe in a red double decker bus. New additions to the group including a new leading lady played by Lauri Peters and someone who was to become a close friend of Cliff's over the years, Una Stubbs.
Not only did this film out perform The Young Ones at the box office, it broke all previous records for a British film which was helped by the premiere being
scheduled in the middle of winter when audiences wanted to be transported out of freezing Britain. The soundtrack from the film also went to No.1 where it stayed for fourteen weeks, and produced two classic No.1 singles
Bachelor Boy/The Next Time and Summer Holiday.
47. Cliff and Bill Latham meet
July, 1964
After the death of his father in 1961, Cliff was struggling with issues of faith and spirituality. One of the first people to engage Cliff in serious discussion about religion was a new member of the Shadows, Brain 'Licorice' Locking. He was a Jehovah's Witness and began having discussions around 1962 with Cliff, his family and Hank about the bible. Hank and Cliff's mother went on to join the religion.
Cliff's old school teacher Jay Norris was concerned with Cliff's new interest in Jehovah's Witnesses, and arranged for Cliff to meet with the school's religious education master Bill Latham at her annual car ralley in July. She put Cliff in the car with Latham, who was given strict orders by Norris to get into a spiritual conversation with Cliff.
While they did discuss spirituality briefly, they didn't immediately develop the connection Jay Norris had hoped they would, so when the issue of religion came up one evening while Cliff was at her house for supper she suggested that Cliff invite Bill over to discuss religion.
Not only was this a pivotal moment in Cliff's journey toward Christianity, but it was also when Cliff was to meet the man who would over the years become Cliff's best friend. He is also now the director of the Cliff Richard Charitable Trust and manages Cliff religious commitments.
48. Cliff announces his conversion to Christianity
26 June, 1966
Even though he was a religious education teacher, Bill Latham felt that he needed help answering Cliff's theological questions and brought in friends from Christain youth organisation the Crusaders Graham Disbrey and David Winter. Bill also began to take him to Crusaders classes that he was teaching, where he would sit up the back quietly listening.
The turning point for Cliff came when he was staying with Bill and his mother during the filming of his 1966 movie
Finders Keepers. One evening he sat in his bedroom reading the book of Revelation and came across the passage where Jesus says, 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; whoever hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in.' He sat and mouthed a hesitant prayer, 'All right, Jesus, I know that you are knocking - you'd better come and take over.'
While no public announcement had been made, word of Cliff's conversion began to spread, and when Billy Graham came to London for a four week crusade at Earls Court, Cliff was sent an invitation to appear with him in front of 25,000 people at the Earl's Court Arena. This was where Cliff would announce to the world that he was a Christian.
49. Cliff is Go!
12 December, 1966
Perhaps one of Cliff's most interesting film appearances is in the 1966 Jerry Anderson movie
Thunderbirds Are Go!
In the movie, Cliff is reduced to puppet form and appears on the stage of the Swingin' Star Nightclub with the Shadows. He is introduced as Cliff Richard Junior, 'the biggest star in the
universe' and sings the song Shooting Star.
50. Good News, Cliff's first gospel album, released
April, 1967
In his struggle to try and integrate his newfound Christian faith with his career, Cliff released his first album of gospel songs in 1967 featuring tracks such as
When I Survey The Wondrous Cross, What A Friend We Have In Jesus and
It's No Secret.
Cliff would go on to regard this album as his most important recording achievement of the late sixties.
