Rick Wakeman was onstage from the age of five and looks back with us here on a life of live performance – jazz and blues bands, the Strawbs, Yes – and ahead to this autumn’s tour performing King Arthur and the Six Wives of Henry the Eighth. “I wake up every morning, throw off the duvet and – if nothing else has fallen off – have a great day!” There’s more …

... how it feels when the rock press call you ‘Tomorrow’s Superstar!’ at the age of 24.

… the contract he once had to sign that said “Mister Wakeman will wear at least one of his capes during the performance”.

… seeing the Bonzos in 1965, “Viv Stanshall so paralytic he sang the entire set lying down”.

… being on a packed tube to Gants Hill and suddenly realising he was on the cover of the Melody Maker he was reading.

… Mrs Symes, his piano teacher, who launched his career (aged five).

… his teenage band Atlantic Blues “who ended Wipe Out eight times faster than it started”.

… the day his Strawbs’ Hammond organ solos were applauded by the Telegraph and Times.

… early piano sessions for Cat Stevens, Ralph McTell and Al Stewart.

… aspects of touring that prove “financially non-viable”.

… and how Wolf Hall rebooted the legend of Henry the Eighth.

Plus Atomic Rooster, Charlie Chaplin, Arthur Brown, green PVC trousers and a cape collection that includes “four originals”.

Buy tickets here: https://www.rwcc.com/live.php#ere2025

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Rick Wakeman once signed a contract guaranteeing he’d wear “at least one cape onstage”

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