WELCOME TO THE ON-LINE SERVICE OF THE OFFICIAL ELVIS PRESLEY FAN CLUB, JUDGED TO BE THE WORLD’S MOST RESPECTED FAN CLUB
Elvis Presley Fan Club, PO Box 3456, Cheadle, ST10 9BG, United Kingdom
We are thrilled to be able to invite you into our official EPFC web pages engineered by our on-line technical custodian Garry Gomersall who, working with Henry Nicholls, has produced this web site, and is developing our internet presence.
The Official Elvis Presley Fan Club of Great Britain opened way back in 1957. Established by Jeanne Saward and Dug Surtees from an address in London, the club flourished and soon had 1,000 members. In 1960, Derbyshire printer Albert Hand produced a couple of Elvis magazines, which were so popular that he was encouraged to publish a periodic title – Elvis Monthly - which regularly sold 100,000 copies, and there was even a French language edition Elvis Mensuel.
In 1962 the fan club was handed over to Albert by Jeanne and Dug, and in 1967 Albert Hand sold the Elvis Presley Fan Club to Todd Slaughter.
Fan Club President Todd Slaughter (above)
What has made this Fan Club so unique is that it has always enjoyed celebrity and media support and continues to do so. Over the past seven decades there have been many landmarks achieved by this club. The NBC Elvis 68 Special, judged to be the first “un-cut” television event, 21 years prior to the launch of MTV Unplugged which focused on this style of presentation, was a British Fan Club exclusive. Colonel Parker, Elvis’ manager, agreed that we should be able to screen the programme to a capacity Fan Club audience of 2,000 devotees before it was ever seen on TV outside of the USA. This screening attracted an A-List array of celebrities including in the audience a young Tim Rice, chart topping British acts of the time, and the first ever Radio One Roadshow. On hearing of the audience reaction from a BBC News reporter covering the screening, the head of the newly launched BBC2 colour service, David Attenborough, requested that the NBC print be taken back to his office to audition. Subsequently, he secured the UK broadcast rights to the programme for his new channel. In 2018 this 1968 Elvis Comeback Special enjoyed nationwide special-event cinema screenings for one day only marking the show’s 50th anniversary. Wholly promoted by Todd Slaughter on over 26 BBC radio networks, commercial radio, on television and through the fan club on behalf of Cinevents, the UK theatre audience total was 100,000 – twice that achieved in the USA; and we did the same in 2020 with “Elvis: That’s The Way It Is”.
Always enjoying a special relationship with Colonel Parker, and more recently the Elvis Presley Estate, this Fan Club has had a unique privileged affinity with Elvis’ management and was able to premiere Elvis movies before being screened in cinemas. In addition, MGM flew over a film crew from Hollywood to record segments of the club’s 1970 international convention in Luxembourg for inclusion in the movie “Elvis: That’s The Way It Is”. MGM also used Fan Club archive footage in their follow up documentary “Elvis: On Tour”, as too did Warner Brothers in their biopic “This Is Elvis” made after Elvis’ death. The idea behind the 1973 satellite TV show “Elvis: Aloha From Hawaii” was originally conceived by this Fan Club.
Pictured below is our creative director Jon Aldersea (top), Henry Nicholls our Operations Director (centre), and Garry Gomersall (bottom)
Jon Aldersea produces our radio programmes, Fan Club DVD programmes, event photography and TV news feeds. His studio also produces our artwork, logos and our magazine graphic work.
Our operations director, Henry Nicholls, is in charge of the day-to-day management of our office, order progressing, subscription services, Fan Club holiday booking administration, and oversees our social media activities, soon to be expanded to include Instagram, Twitter and Tik-Tok.
Garry Gomersall has become one of our Fan Club custodians and has an impressive pedigree consulting with major global corporate clients. His skills include being Advisory Consultant, Architect, Business Coach & IT Strategist. CIO/CTO Interim Roles and, fortunately for us, he is a massive Elvis Fan.
OUR FAN CLUB MEMBERS SAW ELVIS’ FINAL TWO CONCERTS
Elvis’ final TV performance, taped 6 weeks prior to the singer’s death, included footage of 200 British Fan Club members who travelled to the States to see what turned out to be Elvis’ final two concerts, and the Official Elvis Presley Fan Club group were seen in the CBS Special “Elvis in Concert”. Todd, who had met Elvis twice previously in Las Vegas, was filmed with Elvis by CBS prior to his last performance in Indianapolis on 26th June, 1977. Between 1972 and 1976 over 2,000 Fan Club members travelled to Memphis and then on to Las Vegas where they saw Elvis on stage at the Las Vegas Hilton. Every year since Elvis’ death the club, using a variety of tour operators, has taken over 30,000 members on memorial tours to Graceland.
And below our Honorary Presidents Tony Prince (top) and Sir Tim Rice (bottom)
The Fan Club has been featured in several British TV documentaries over the years, notably “Elvis He Touched Their Lives”, a Christmas Special made for ITV by Yorkshire Television and hosted by Sir David Frost. Todd hosted “A Moment in Time with Elvis” on the History Channel, and “Marrying Elvis” was produced for the Sky TV platform by Tony Prince and followed Fan Club members who travelled to Memphis to wed their partners, in a documentary with content also from Priscilla Presley and many of Elvis’ friends and co-stars.
Most British broadcasters and the press, together with national and international news gatherers, have frequently attended Fan Club events, holidays, and pilgrimages to Graceland. Britain’s Best Elvis Tribute Act contest was co-hosted by myself and Richard Arnold over a three-month period some years back for GMTV. The winning act starred on the touring show “One Night of Elvis” promoted by the Fan Club and Handshake productions,playing to a total audience of 50,000. In recent times, Good Morning Britain has sent Richard Arnold and Ross King,with a film crew to cover the August members’ trip, to Graceland resulting in dozens of live feeds from Memphis back to the UK.
The Fan Club Elvis Hour on Radio Caroline Flashback which is broadcast at 8.00pm each Thursday online, on digital radio, on your tablet, phone and smart speaker has a million listeners. Back in 1988 the Fan Club won a Sony Award for Radio Trent with their “Elvis: Ten Years After” programme.
Hundreds of celebrities who have appeared and supported the Fan Club over the years have including broadcasters Tony Prince, Paul Burnett, Mike Read, David Hamilton, Kid Jensen, Dave Lee Travis, Simon Bates, Ed Stewart, Emperor Rosko, Mark Wesley, Tommy Vance and Reginald Bosanquet. Actors Christopher Timothy, Paul Shane, Ruth Madoc, Su Pollard, John Leyton, Barbara Windsor, and Michelle Keegan, together with several of Elvis’ movie co-stars, have been Fan Club event guests. Chart topping acts that have performed during Fan Club events include Manfred Mann, The Searchers, Herman’s Hermits, Swinging Blue Jeans, Mud, Alvin Stardust, The Osmonds, Marty Wilde, Billy Fury, Spencer Davis, Kim Wilde, Suzy Quatro, Wayne Fontana, The Merseybeats, Meatloaf, Boy George and Joe Brown.
And it was this Fan Club and you guys that bombarded the White House with letters requesting that Elvis received a posthumous national award, and eventually President Trump presented Graceland boss Jack Soden with Elvis’ Presidential Medal of Freedom. Not a bad list of major achievements for Elvis legacy and career from just a fan club. But we are not just a fan club – we are simply the best fan club in the world, and we have the best members! Thank you all for your continuing support!
As we enter our 7th decade, isn’t it about time you became involved? All members receive four quarterly full colour magazines each year, a membership card, plus details throughout the year of our various activities, from local social events through to national and international conventions.
To subscribe to our magazine and become of member of the Official Elvis Presley Fan Club you can pay on line now by clicking here
Alternatively you can call 07934 890097 and pay with your debit / credit card, or post your subscription payment of £20.00 (UK); £30 (Europe) £35.00 (North America); or £40.00 (Rest of the world) to: Elvis Presley Fan Club, PO Box 3456, Cheadle, ST10 9BG, United Kingdom.
We host conventions and holidays here in the British Isles and throughout Europe, and let’s not forget our tours to the United States which began back in 1972 initially to see Elvis in concert. Today our USA visits start in Memphis and Elvis Presley’s Graceland plus can often include extended trips to Florida, Los Angeles, Arizona, Las Vegas, New York and Hawaii. Details of all our holiday adventures are regularly updated on this site and let’s not forget our stellar Elvis Week held each year in Hemsby, near Great Yarmouth in Norfolk.