By Kathy McCabe
Copyright news
Casting your busted old kneecaps into gold jewellery, as Elton John has, might be another sign.
The revered musician, who has always celebrated his love of bling, has revealed the bizarre addition to his jewellery collection in a “documentary” for the Wold Gold Council.
In the 30-minute film called Touched by Gold, the man with plenty of platinum records, shiny trophies and metallic suits and boots, shared how he engaged a famed London jeweller to create “timeless” pieces out of his kneebones when he had double kneecap replacement surgery last year.
“When I had my kneecaps removed … I asked my surgeon if I could keep the kneecaps which he was rather startled about,” John says in the short film.
He presented the old bones to London designer Theo Fennell.
“Then I rang you and said, ‘Would you be prepared to, if I gave you the left and the right kneecap to do what you want with them?’”
Fennell explained they had to bake the bones to dry them out and then preserve them in acetate before they could work on them.
The right patella was fashioned into a gold pendant, and the smaller left kneecap is now a brooch.
“My surgeon said I had the worst knees he’s ever operated on,” John told his designer as they examined the pendant, which the singer remarked resembles an ancient Egyptian artefact.
John pointed out the hole to loop the chain through, remarking “that hole was actually in my kneecap.”
Fennell shares in the film how the necklace chain was crafted out of bones and he had the back of the piece inscribed with a Latin phrase which translates to “I will no longer bow to any man.”
The designer points out the irony of the inscription as John can’t bow to anyone now he’s minus his meniscus.
John recently freaked out fans with a cheeky post featuring him laid out in a hospital bed with a bedazzled neck brace and full leg casts.
It turns out it is his cameo in the long-awaited Spinal Tap sequel which hits cinemas on September 25.
The Rocket Man is also back in the music business this week with the release of the original cast recording of the songs from the West End production of The Devil Wears Prada musical, as filming continues on the sequel to the original movie starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway.
