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Alfie Carretta and his neighbour Bill Flynn |
Alfie set to star on US ‘telly’
90-year-old to fly to Los Angeles to meet stars and perform song for nation
ARCHWAY pensioner Alfie Carretta is very sorry, but he won’t be at bingo this weekend. Instead he’s flying out to meet singer Tom Jones and actor George Clooney.
A chauffeur-driven car will collect the 90-year-old from his council flat tomorrow (Saturday) and take him to Heathrow, from where he will be flown to Los Angeles.
If he oversleeps Alfie’s “technical adviser” – the bloke who shows him how to use the video and CD player – next-door neighbour Bill Flynn, will give him a call.
Alfie, the world’s oldest and most unlikely superstar, will be making a guest appearance on Sunday night, along with Jones and Clooney, on the famous American Jay Leno talk show.
For those who have been living on another planet, Alfie is lead singer with the phenomenally successful Zimmers, a motley band of pensioners who have just released a cover version of The Who’s My Generation.
Things move fast in showbusiness. Hours after Alfie and his group appeared in an hour-long documentary about ageing on BBC TV on Monday night, the Americans started to take an interest.
Although there are about 40 members of the Zimmers, only four are going to the States, including Alfie and the centenarian Buster.
“I’ve never been to America,” said Alfie this week, back from signing copies of the CD at Woolworth’s in the Edgware Road. “I’m trying to take it all in my stride. But I’m getting really excited.”
Alfie will not become a rich man, because all proceeds from the CD are being donated to Age Concern. But he’s starting to be recognised in the Holloway Road.
He added: “A woman came up to me in Marks and Spencer and asked for my autograph. I thought what does she want that for, then I remembered it’s because I’ve been on the telly.”
Two months ago Alfie, a retired export manager, was just an anonymous single pensioner, whose life revolved mainly around the Essex Road Mecca bingo hall and the friends he’d made there over 30 years.
Then, Mecca decided to close the hall down and Alfie launched a campaign to save it in this newspaper.
The campaign failed but Alfie, now a regular at the Camden Town Mecca bingo hall, was discovered by BBC producer Tim Samuels, who was making a film about OAPs who fight back.
Since then tens of thousands have downloaded the video from the internet, and the CD was recorded at Abbey Road. |
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