Proudly on display in the Kremlin’s Armoury Chamber sits a collection of 10 unique, imperial Fabergé eggs that have dazzled visitors for almost a century.
Elton John was unimpressed when he visited, though – as he reckoned he had more Fabergé eggs at home.
Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, who produced a documentary of Elton’s 1979 performance in Moscow, recall in their new memoir: “Elton was offered a VIP tour of the Kremlin, and our wives managed to tag along. They were shown all the royal historical artistic treasures left over from the tsars.
“As they stumbled into Red Square, Elton confided to Nancy (Clement’s wife) that he was shocked to discover that he had a bigger Fabergé collection than the Kremlin.”
Even bog standard, non-imperial Fabergé eggs are worth £1million, just to note.
The producers described being “con-stantly under surveillance” during Elton’s tour of the Soviet Union, saying: “Elton was assigned an assistant who was clearly gay, doubtless to lure him into some indiscretion.”
They also believe two Bolshoi Ballet tour man-agers assigned to the group while they filmed To Russia With Elton were KGB spies.
And they revealed the star was banned from singing Back In The USSR. They said: “He ignored this and got an ovation every time.”
- More Than Likely by Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais is published by W&N on September 19, priced £20.
