Growing old is a privilege ... I'm excited about the next phase of my life

CHOIRMASTER GARETH MALONE CHATS TO MARION MCMULLEN ABOUT TURNING 50 WITH A SINGALONG

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Are you looking forward to marking your 50th birthday in November with new tour Sing-Along-A-Gareth: 50 Years Of Song?

My live show is mostly music, but it’s kind of like stand-up as well.

I’m interacting with the audience and we get loads of heckling.

A guy took his top off in Nottingham and was waving it around his head while he was singing.

We have people dancing in the aisles and kids coming along.

It's a lot of fun.

We always write a song in every location and it is always about something local, so in Guildford they wanted to write a song about the A3... for two years running.

In Dorking we wrote about a statue of a cockerel and in Oxford we did a song about low traffic lanes in the style of Radiohead.

I think that was probably my highlight. Everyone was singing the words “Oh, Oxford, Oxford, what have they done to you?” as if they were Thom Yorke.

How do you feel about reaching 50?

I will be 50 during the tour and will be at Warwick Arts Centre that night. I’m excited about it.

I didn’t enjoy 49. I was feeling quite low. I went straight into filming after the last tour, and at the end of January I felt really tired and I thought, “Am I getting old?”.