GLORY DAYS

Rock superstar Bruce Springsteen on his lifelong love affair with Britain's music and people

- RICHARD MCCLURE

When Bruce Springsteen Came to Britain

Saturday, 9.30pm, BBC2

Ona wintry day in November 1975, a piece of rock history was made when a flight from Newark, USA, touched down on the runway at London's Heathrow Airport.

Aboard the plane was a 26-year-old American musician by the name of Bruce Springsteen. It was his first time on UK soil - and the fulfilment of a long-held dream for the New Jersey singer, who had been inspired to perform by his love of British groups in the 1960s.

‘Bands like The Animals and The Rolling Stones changed my life. Hearing The Beatles on the radio was an Earth-rocking moment I will never forget’, he recalls in BBC2 documentary When Bruce Springsteen Came to Britain, which marks 50 years since his first UK shows. ‘As a band, we hadn't been out of the United States. Now, we were in the land of our gods and saviours.’

On the back of his acclaimed Born to Run album, Springsteen and his E Street Band had been booked to play two sold-out gigs at London's Hammersmith Odeon. It was the beginning of a unique and enduring connection between The Boss and his British fans - but his UK debut wasn't without its setbacks.

The concerts had been heavily hyped by his record label, who were trying to promote him as the new Bob Dylan, and the venue was plastered with posters declaring ‘London is finally ready for Bruce Springsteen’.