Remember the King on our Elvis anniversary microsite

Elvis Presley fans danced in the streets of London, laid wreaths at his feet in Japan and massed for a commemorative concert at Graceland in Memphis as the world paid tribute to “The King” on the 30th anniversary of his death.

On the hottest day recorded in Japan, Kurumi Nakamura became one of the first fans to mark the commemoration by laying a wreath at the feet of a bronze statue in the Harajuku district of Tokyo. The anniversary, she declared, “is not a day of mourning, but a happy, happy day of memories”.

Japan has one of the largest Elvis fan clubs in the world. Its chief adviser is the younger brother of Junichiro Koizumi, the former Japanese Prime Minister who released his own CD of Elvis tunes and once visited Graceland with President Bush.

Mrs Nakamura said that she watched one of his concerts or films every night and that her home was plastered with Elvis posters. But if her husband was jealous of her idol-worship, she said, “he keeps it locked away in his heart like a Japanese man should”.

In Germany, where Elvis was based while serving in the US Army, hundreds of visitors visited the Ellington Hotel in Berlin to see the biggest collection of original Elvis memorabilia outside the United States. Franz Josef Wagner, a columnist for Bild newspaper, recalled what Elvis represented to the newly liberated West Germany after the Second World War. “On the radio it’s the Armed Forces Network, the US military broadcaster – I hear My Happiness. . .” he wrote. “When I drive my car today and hear My HappinessI find myself on the verge of tears.”

Some 1,200 British fans joined tens of thousands of people at Graceland, Elvis’s former home in Memphis, Tennessee, where they were to watch a commemorative concert featuring video footage last night.

“I have been a mad Elvis fan all my life,” said Tony Prince, the former disc jockey at Radio Luxembourg, who made the trip as president of the British fan club. “My life started to get col-ourful when I heard Heartbreak Hotel. He just got you and pulled you along. I became a singer and joined a band.”

A party was also held last night at the Elvisly Yours memorabilia shop in Baker Street, Central London. Sid Shaw, the owner, said: “We had a few hundred people dancing in the street and five Elvises.”

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