In the mid-1980's I stayed in Los Angeles and went to Universal Studios for the day. When I got there, I met Renate Blauel and spent a morning with her on a backlot tour.

Renate Blauel.

I went to Burbank Studios with him to see where he worked and then went to Universal Studios for the day.

Meeting Renate Blauel.

I had just entered Universal Studios and was in the queue for the backstage tour when I noticed a beautiful woman in the queue in front of me with two very large men. I thought I recognised her and suddenly realised where I had seen her before. I had seen her in the newspapers a couple of days before when she had got married to pop legend Elton John, she was Renate Blauel.

As we were queuing up for the tour, I said hello and started talking to her, telling her I had seen her in the papers a few days before. We started talking, and she told me that as soon she and Elton John had got married they had flown to California as he was making a video for his record 'I'm still standing'. The video had been filmed in Cannes, France and was being edited in California.

She introduced me to her two minders as we talked and queued up for the backstage tour. We continued talking as we waited in line, she was asking if I was on my own and how long I was on holiday for. As we got to the front of the line she turned away to talk to her minders and told them she didn't need them anymore and would go on the backstage tour with me. They then left, and I spent a few hours with her on the Universal Studios backstage tour. 

When the tour finished, she thanked me for my company and said she had to leave to meet Elton John. I spent the rest of the day walking around Universal Studios, and when I had finished, I walked back to Burbank to get a lift home. When I saw Ron, I asked him to guess which famous singer's wife I had spent the morning with. Straight away, he said Renate, Elton John's wife. When I asked him how he knew, he said he just guessed as he had seen Elton John in the studios working.

I didn't meet Elton John, but I did get to meet his very beautiful wife, Renate, who was kind enough to accompany me on my backstage tour of Universal Studios. It was another great memory that I will never forget.