Elton John: man from Preston claims to be his biggest fan as he has seen the Glastonbury headliner 233 times

63-year-old Ricky Stephensen from Longton has seen his favourite star Elton John an unbelievable 233 times.

Ricky, who runs a forklift and plant machinery training company alongside his wife Rae, told the Post he first became a fan back when he was 10 years old.

Explaining why he likes Elton John, Ricky, who also shares his birthday, said: “I just love his music, his personality – he can be a bit of a diva at times, we all know that, but he's only human – he’s just great entertainment, for me anyway!”

Ricky has travelled all around the world to see Elton throughout his career, with his first ever concert being at Preston’s Guild Hall in 1979, and most recently he attend Elton’s last live show at Glastonbury in June.

How was Elton at Glastonbury?

Ricky, who was attending Glastonbury for the first time, said: “It was amazing! He started off with Pinball Wizard this time, he normally starts off with Bennie and the Jets so it was a different setup, and he brought on a lot of guests, up and coming young people.

"It was a really, really good concert. I got myself towards the front, that took a lot of hard work because it was compact, there were 250,000 people there at Glastonbury. I’ve been to festivals before, but it was an amazing place, very well organised and they reckon Elton John was the best headline ever, so it was a good ending to what’s been 52 years of being a fan.”

Which one was Ricky’s favourite show?

Ricky answered that it was his 200th time seeing Elton – a concert held at Blackburn’s Ewood Park in 2017.

He and his wife were at the front of the crowd holding a banner, when in front of the thousands of people, Elton said: “This ones for Ricky... on his 200th show!”

Elton then proceeded to play ‘Your Song’ – which was Ricky and Rae’s wedding song – followed by Tiny Dancer.

Ricky commented: “I had to dance with the wife in front of everybody which was very embarrassing because I’ve got two left feet!”

He also named Glastonbury as a highlight, as well as Elton’s Maddison Square Garden shows, which Ricky has gone to four times.

And his worst?

An intimate show at Hampton Court Palce in London – Ricky admits that although it should have been one of the best shows, it turned out to be the most embarassing due to a condition he has called Sleep Apnea.

Ricky explained: “There's only about 400 of us there, it's just him on the piano, and right at the front, right in front of him, I fall asleep! I woke up and he’s there looking at me, I thought he must think I think he's boring.

"That was funny, but god it was embarrassing, I only fell asleep for a few seconds!”

How much merchandise does Ricky own?

Ricky claims he owns every single, album, record, cassette and book that Elton John has ever released.

As well as tour T-shirts and an impressive leather jacket, Ricky also says he has “hundreds” of Elton John glasses – too many to count.

Ricky’s house is then full of various other Elton John memorabilia, such as bobble heads, signed photos and even Elton Marmite, whilst in the back garden, he has an Elton John inspired music room, set up with a grand piano and prepared stage.

Has he ever met Elton?

Ricky and Elton have sadly never met outside of a concert setting, but as mentioned above, Elton certainly knows who he is.

He explained: “He’s signed my jackets, seen all my banners and I’ve been in his fan club years and years. He’s obviously seen me a few times at the front, and he recognises me – he recognises a few of us but I think I'm the one that's seen him the most. I’m also on the big screen on his Yellow Brick Road, Farewell tour, behind the stage, which is a huge thing.”

Ricky’s mum however has met Elton, at Stringfellows nightclub in London – “that got me a bit jealous” he admitted.

What does Ricky’s wife think of it all?

Rae has been with her husband to over 60 shows to keep him company, and although that will put her high in the attendance rankings, she is not quite in the same fan club as Ricky.

Rae told the Post: “I am a fan just not as much of a fan as my husband, he’s worn me out with it to be honest, although it’s brought us some great memories, we’ve been to some amazing places all over the world. One in particular, we flew out to Buffallo to see Elton John and Billy Joel do a back to back concert. When we arrived, Billy Joel had cancelled so we got interviewed by the Buffalo Times and were front page the next day with the headline ‘that's why they call it the blues’, and everybody was clapping us when we went for breakfast.

"But the funniest thing that night, the hotel we were staying at, when we went down to the bar, there was Davey Johnson, Elton John's guitarist, so we had our pictures taken with him and got chatting to him. As a result of that, he signed a napkin with Elton’s tour manager's name and mobile number and said, phone this number and your husband will meet Elton John on the next tour, but the next tour was cancelled and then the tour managers changed so we got very close, but not close enough to meet him.”

What does Ricky say about Elton’s retirement?

He answered: “It’s a shame it's come to an end, but he’ll still promote albums and and go to the Apollo at London promoting new albums... I’ll be going to them so it’s not completely over.

"I went all the way to see him promote a book once… it was only about three quarters of an hour with David Walliams, it was interesting, no singing just chatting, it was a long way to go to see him chat, but that’s a devoted fan for you, four and a half hours there, four an a half hours back.”