good evening and welcome to the national

theater for this the third in our series

of informal conversations with major

performers it has been a very exciting

season so far

which has encompassed such performing

Giants as Ian McKellen Dame Judi Dench

and of course Christopher Biggins

but tonight we had to welcome a man who

although no giant has nevertheless made

a huge impression in his chosen field

ladies and gentlemen mr. Elton John

me Alton do you mind if I call you Alton

no that's good

well Elton I'm sure the first question

that everybody would like to ask you is

this funny name

Elton how did you come by it well I used

to be in a band and I wanted to become a

singer in my own right and I wanted to

choose a name and a saxophone player and

the band was called Elton so I chose

that name

well did you ever consider John Elton no

you you didn't okay

right well let's start with those early

albums then one of which I believe was

called simply Elton John yes that's

correct

when you didn't feel awkward with the

name it no you didn't feel that people

might say wait a minute they mean John

Elton

they've cocked up the record sleeve and

printed the bloody name the wrong way

around I thought it sounded great and

you know I thought people would be more

interested in the music rather than the

name

now to the songs themselves many of the

lyrics were of course written by Bernie

Taupin yes that's right what I'd like to

talk about Bernie for a while since

obviously he's been an enormous

influence on your career yes yes tell me

did you ever discuss changing his name

because presumably talkin Bernie would

have been more consistent with your

Elton John look do you want to talk

about the old songs or not alright

alright the songs the old songs your

song is a classic isn't it yes quite

popular yes well there is a verse in

that song in which talking about the

eyes of the person that the song is

about you sing excuse me for asking

these things I do you see I've forgotten

if they're green or they're blue yeah

what I'd like to know is this is it this

sort of chronic forgetfulness that led

you to forget that Elton is not in fact

a Christian name at all it is a surname

and not a very attractive one at that

let's talk about something else

sorry forget the name alright mr. John

let's talk about being a stage performer

should we tell me do you ever watch

other performers and get jealous I'm not

sure I follow you there I mean jealous

of what

well for instance Ben Elton

I don't have to do this you know I just

alright alright look I'm sorry look I'm

sorry go alright fair enough moving on

then many consider your masterpiece of

course to be the album goodbye yellow

brick road and there is one song that

people are particularly moved by called

called candle in the wind yes a lot of

people seem to like that song now this

song is in fact dedicated to Norma Jean

Baker who of course changed her name to

Monroe Marilyn Marilyn Monroe my point

exactly

Marilyn is a Christian name so it comes

first can't you see that you were blind

or something any minutes I've had

another this alright no no wait please

I'm sorry see please I'm sorry it was my

mistake I'm sorry there's only one more

question to go it won't take long

really it won't take a moment sorry

there's only I am please sit down one

final question

you've obviously achieved enormous

success over the years but in fact you

didn't have a solo British number one

until this year with a song called

sacrifice now my big question is this

surely you wouldn't have had to wait so

long for a number one it's can with your

stupid pointless bloody name

what a head dick