The King took out insurance for his private jet a year
before he died showing he planned to fly to "England and Japan" on
business and pleasure
Getty
Air miles: Elvis was planning to double his plane's usage
Rock ‘n’ roll superstar Elvis Presley was planning to perform his
first ever show in Britain when he died, a never-seen-before document
has revealed.
Despite his enormous international fanbase, the King
never performed outside of North America partly because his dictatorial
Dutch-born manager Colonel Parker was living there illegally and
couldn’t leave.
The only time he touched down in the UK was at
Prestwick airport in Glasgow when the US army plane carrying him home
from duty stopped briefly to refuel in 1960.
But a $3.6 million
life insurance policy that Elvis filled out 12 months before he died in
August 1977 has now come to light for the first time showing he was
planning to travel by plane to England and Japan.
The signed document, dated August 11, 1976, relates to the use of his Corvair 880 private jet The Lisa Marie which he had bought for $250,000 the year previously.
Reuters
Transport fit for the King: The Lisa Marie jet
Flying visit: Elvis visited UK when his army plane touched down briefly to refuel
Elvis filled out the aviation questionnaire
in his full name Elvis Aaron Presley and states that he has flown 45
hours as a crew member since buying the plane.
Significantly, in
response to a question about what countries he intends to fly to outside
of the US, Elvis put ‘Japan & England’.
He then states that
he anticipates to double the plane’s usage from 25 hours a year to 50
and that the purpose of the flights would be business and pleasure.
JuliensAuctions/BNPS
Now or never: Elvis was planning first show in Britain
JuliensAuctions/BNPS
Flight plans: The aviation questionnaire filled in by Elvis
Experts say the form is the only known documentary proof that
he clearly intended to come to England prior to his untimely death aged
42 on August 16, 1977.
The questionnaire was discovered among a
folio of 140 life insurance-related documents including medical reports,
cardiac charts, discharge summaries and test results.
The file has now been put up for auction by an unnamed collector who acquired it at some point in the 38 years since Elvis died. The King is dead: How Daily Mirror reported death of Elvis
The document is tipped to fetch £10,000 when it goes under the hammer at Julien’s Auctions.
Julie
Yeardye, one of Britain’s leading authorities on Elvis, said: “For
years there was speculation about Elvis coming to Europe to perform that
was drummed up in the media but nothing ever came of it.
“What
makes this document so fascinating is that it is the first time I’ve
ever seen anything in black and white actually showing that it was in
Elvis’ mind to travel to England.
“Around the time he signed this
form he was in a bad place - he was not speaking to Colonel Parker and
he had just learned that two of his bodyguards were writing a book about
him.
“It could very well be that he just decided to distance himself from it all by getting out of the US.
Rex
Legend: Elvis Presley in his heyday
“He had massive fanbases in both England and Japan so they would have been obvious choices for places to go on tour.
“Maybe at that point in his career he was just looking for a new challenge.
“Whatever it was, we know that Elvis never went to England or Japan on tour, which is a great shame.
“Maybe his nerves got the better of him, or maybe he just didn’t get round to organising it.
“Sadly
we will never know what an Elvis concert in England is like, but this
is the closest we’ve ever seen to the idea being in his mind.”
Darren Julien, from the auction house, added: “The fact that Elvis
plans to up his plane’s usage from 25 hours a year to 50 hours a year
would suggest he was thinking about long-haul flights out of the US.
“I
think Elvis would have performed internationally a lot more as he got
older - he understood the importance of his music to fans outside of the
US.
“It’s sad that he didn’t perform in the UK because I think it would have only heightened his career.
“Anything relating to Elvis is highly collectable and there has been plenty of interest already in this document.” Claims: It was rumoured Elvis met Tommy Steele in London in 1958
In 2008 theatre impresario Bill Kenwright claimed in a radio interview that Elvis had secretly visited British stage star Tommy Steele in London in 1958.
But
the owners of Prestwick airport contested it and said that until proof
was given of the meeting they would continue to claim their runway as
the only place in the UK that Elvis ever went to.
The auction will take place in Los Angeles on Saturday.
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