BBC sounds, music, radio, podcasts.

Lauren Laverne here.

We're taking our summer break, so until we're back on air,

we're showcasing a few programs from our archives.

As usual, the music's been shortened for right reasons.

This week's guest is Sir Elton John.

Michael Parkinson cast him away in 1986.

A cast away today is one of the legendary figures of rock and roll.

In an notoriously fickle industry, he survived all the changes to remain a star for nearly

20 years.

Also, he's the only chairman of Watford Football Club to have sold 80 million records.

He is, of course, Elton John.

Let's go right back to the very beginning.

When do you first start taking piano lessons?

I first started taking lessons when I was about six or seven.

I can't remember exactly, but I originally started playing piano by ear because I grew

up, being looked up by my grandmother and mother because my father was in the Air Force,

and I was born in my grandmother's house in Pinner Green in the middle of sex.

We always had a piano in the house because my aunt used to play.

When I was about five or six, my parents thought it might be a good idea that I should have

some formal education in music, which, of course, I did in particular like, but I was very

lucky enough they sent me to a local woman called Mrs. Jones in Pinner, whose husband

...