Meeting Nipper

When I received the initial 'phone call regarding me and "something to do with Elvis Presley", I didn't quite know what to expect; was I going to be flown to Gracelands in Memphis to have an interview with the long, lost son of Elvis? Had I been left all of Elvis Presley's estate in his will?

Er...no. Joking apart, for me it was just as good. A friend of mine who I had not seen for a long time and who is probably the biggest Elvis fan of all time (by that I don't mean she's 12ft high and 9ft across) invited me to her home and from there we were going to a secret location to meet someone.

She insisted I took my guitar with me which I did. At the said location, we entered a rather swish, art deco apartment where I met the host, a very charming and charismatic lady.

Secret revealedAfter pleasantries and some ginger beer with a slice lemon in it I was introduced to the mystery "person". It was none other than Nipper!!!!!! Nipper I tells ya! ....NIPPER!!!!!!

"Who's that?" I hear you say. Nipper was the little dog that is on the,"His Master's Voice" RCA record labels who is looking or rather listening, into the horn of the old, wind up gramophone. An iconic image.

Anyway, this particular Nipper, a stuffed cream and black toy dog about 3ft high was given to Elvis early on in his career by RCA Victor. He took it on stage with him and cavorted and rolled about with Nipper in what the California Police, in 1957, thought was lewd and obscene but by today's standards was probably very innocent.

As a result, Elvis was told to not do that anymore and, like a good lad, he didn't.

Cut to 2009 and here I am with the very same Nipper! He was bought by his current owner from Bonham's of London some years ago. It was a real thrill for me to think that Elvis owned this dog and had him on stage with him (in what I believe to be his best years but of course, that's only my opinion) and here I am with the very same dog.

Close to ElvisI think this will be the closest I'm ever going to get to Elvis because, here I am stroking the Nipper that Elvis stroked, sang and probably did other stuff with too. And, not only that, I sang to him! (Poor thing). Did I resist the urge to be predictable and not do "Hound Dog" or "Old Shep"? Come on...what do you think!

Soon, Nipper will be on sale. Will I be buying him? Put it this way, my chickens would have to do a better job of picking my Lottery numbers than they did last time!

Billy Gibbons. Blue Suede News at Ten. Audlem.

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