Cliff Richard turned down girlfriend to pursue showbiz dream

Cliff Richard broke up with his first serious girlfriend with a letter explaining he had to put his pop career before “any lasting relationship”.

In a handwritten missive ending his courtship with dancer Delia Wicks, the then 21-year-old singer said he had showbiz in his blood and would be lost without it.

The couple had been seeing each other for 18 months when the letter arrived from Australia where he was on tour in October 1961.

The letter – which misspelt her name as “Dellia” – said: “Being a pop singer I have to give up one priceless thing – the right to any lasting relationship with any special girl.”

It began: “Dear Dellia, I know I haven’t written for a long time but I’ve been so confused in my mind about you and about myself. I’ve just had to make, probably, one of the biggest decisions I’m ever going to make and I’m hoping that it won’t hurt you too much.”

The singer urged her to “find someone who is free to love you as you deserve to be loved” and who “is able to marry you”.

He went on: “I couldn’t give up my career, besides the fact that my mother and sisters, since my father’s death, rely on me completely. I have showbiz in my blood now and I would be lost without it.

“D, all I can say now is goodbye and don’t think too badly of me. Love, Cliff.”

She was said to have been left heartbroken by Richard's decision to break off the romance. She went on to marry company director John Pyle in 1970 but later divorced.

The letter was made public by Mrs Pyle’s brother Graham Wicks, 65, following her death from cancer, aged 71, last weekend.

Mrs Pyle, who starred in the Black and White Minstrel Show, worked in a shoe shop in Warwickshire after she retired from dancing.