'It just opens my heart': Presley fans go loco as they board the Elvis Express

Steph Harmon joins the great, good and gold-rimmed in Sydney on their way to join lookalikes at the 24th Parkes Elvis festival and a week of ‘Fun in Acapulco’

Wearing a bright turquoise V-neck jumpsuit with gold-studded detailing and an enormous white plastic belt, Ken Keith is in his element.

Keith, the mayor of Parkes in western New South Wales, is standing on platform 1 at Sydney’s Central Station amid a throngs of Elvis fanatics and the people who love them. In just over an hour – after photos, speeches and a series of tributes performed on a makeshift stage in the station’s main foyer – the costumed Elvii assembled will board the “Elvis Express” behind him, departing Sydney for the 24th annual Parkes Elvis festival.

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The piano prodigy determined to beat Hitler

I had a lovely interview the other week with the American pianist Mona Golabek, whose mother started out as a child prodigy pianist in Vienna. Once Hitler had annexed Auatria, though, she was fortunate to escape, one of the several thousand Jewish children permitted to come to Britain on the Kindertransport - but leaving their families behind. Mona wrote a book about her mother and now performs an inspirational one-woman show telling the story through words and music. She's bringing it to the St James Theatre, London, later this month.

My piece is in The Independent today: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/the-pianist-of-willesden-lane-mona-golabeks-moving-one-woman-show-about-her-mother-a6796511.html

Joe Brown: My six best albums

JOE BROWN, 74, is famous for his 1960s hits A Picture Of You, It Only Took A Minute and That's What Love Will Do.