Now Cliff takes on General Franco

Cliff Richard is not a man to let things go quietly. Not on Radio 1? You'll hear about it. Having to give up copyright on recordings he made half a century ago? There will be letters.

He's even now insisting that he is retrospectively awarded the first prize in the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest after some film-makers have claimed that General Franco had the vote rigged so that Spain would win:

Although he conceded that opening an official investigation into the rigged vote "might not be worth the trouble", the belated verdict would mean a lot to him.

"I'd be quite happy to be able to say I won Eurovision '68. It's an impressive date in the calendar these days."

Yes, he does appear to be saying that 'Congratulations winning the Eurovision song contest' should take its place alongside Les Evenements, the assassination of Doctor Martin Luther King Junior and the sit-in at Columbia University as part of world history.

The film, 1968: I lived the Spanish May, claims that Franco sent out ambassadors to bribe corrupt TV executives across Europe to ensure a Spanish winner for the song contest. Which he might have done, but since it's equally possible that, even unbribed, people can take against Cliff Richard, who's to say that it would have altered the outcome at all?

Cliff, let it go now.

"It's never good to lose, never good to feel a loser. When I went on that night I said to the band: 'Look guys, there will be 400 million people watching, it will be a massive plug for our song.' And it was. I think we sold a million singles. But we really wanted to win."

Cliff, Cliff: isn't it enough that Frankie and Bennys play the song every time someone is celebrating a birthday? Although when they do so, it does make us come over a little General Franco-esque ourselves.