Cliff Richard

In her 2022 memoirs, Sue Barker said she regretted dating Richard because he had continued for decades to discuss their brief relationship in interviews, notably explaining that he had not loved her enough to marry her. She said that this had upset her and that she had directly asked Richard, his agent and his manager to stop discussing their relationship.

State of the evidence

Documented

Following live coverage of the 2014 search, Richard sued the BBC. In July 2018, the High Court found the BBC responsible for a very serious invasion of his privacy and awarded him £210,000 in general and aggravated damages; the BBC ultimately did not pursue an appeal.

Attribution

Protagonist is the victim

South Yorkshire Police investigated historical sexual assault allegations made by four men. A search of his flat was filmed by the BBC in 2014. In June 2016, the CPS decided that there was insufficient evidence to charge him; two subsequent requests for review were rejected.

Ricky Harris, whose birth certificate names Jet Harris as his father, publicly stated in 2013 that he believed Cliff Richard might be his biological father because of Richard's affair with his mother Carol Costa. He asked Richard to undergo a DNA test and referred to possible legal action to obtain one.

Attribution

Personally implicated

A Spanish documentary claimed in 2008 that Franco's regime had allegedly influenced votes to secure Spain's victory at the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest, in which Cliff Richard had finished second by one point.

Attribution

Protagonist is the victim

In his autobiography, the Christian singer stated that the Church should evolve and accept same-sex relationships and marriages, a sensitive position amid Anglican divisions over same-sex unions.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Personally implicated

Tony Blair and his family spent several summers, including four consecutive years from 2003, at Cliff Richard's Barbados villa. At the same time, Richard was campaigning to extend performers' sound recording protection from 50 to 75 years; reports noted that Blair had cited the issue as a government priority, fuelling suspicions of closeness and influence.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

From the late 1990s, Richard denounced what he regarded as a boycott of his records. In 2004, Tony Blackburn was suspended by Classic Gold after defying an internal policy prohibiting him from playing Richard, before the station reversed course.

State of the evidence

Documented

EMI declined to release The Millennium Prayer, a setting of the Lord's Prayer to Auld Lang Syne. BBC Radio 2 and several commercial stations also refused to include it on their playlists, prompting controversy over artistic quality, religion and Richard's perceived marginalisation.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

The UN Special Committee against Apartheid reports that Cliff Richard toured South Africa in November 1980, at a time when the cultural boycott sought to isolate the regime.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Cliff Richard voluntarily withdrew his recording of Honky Tonk Angel from promotion after stating that he had not understood that the expression referred to a prostitute.

Attribution

Directly implicated

In the early 1960s, Cliff Richard had an affair with Carol Costa, then the estranged wife of Shadows bassist Jet Harris. Richard subsequently acknowledged the relationship in autobiographical accounts, while Harris said he had discovered the affair and been deeply affected.

State of the evidence

Admitted by the person

Attribution

Personally implicated