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Rock legend Leonard Cohen has told 14,000 British fans he is going to start smoking again next year - to mark his 80th birthday.

The singer - who will be 79 later this month - said he wants to take his first cigarette on stage.

During a triumphant three-hour show on the latest leg of his world tour, Cohen said: "I hope I stay on the road a little bit longer - but you may not be so enthusiastic when you hear my reason.

"You see I want to start smoking next year when I'll be 80. It's been a long barren time. I think it's the right age to recommence.

"I'd like to do it on stage and I'd like to be standing here like this, in front of sympathetic people like yourselves.

"A nurse would come onto the stage with a silver tray. On that tray would be an open pack of cigarettes - the little cylinders gleaming like the pillars of a great temple.

"She would approach me in her white pleated uniform, her little stockings and tiny white shoes. I'd take one of those cigarettes and tap it on that silver tray and she would light me up.

"I'd say 'nurse before you go, would you mind tapping out a few of those bubbles in my IV'.

"Then I'd take my first drag and I'd feel extremely relaxed and I'd be able to review some of the disasters of my shabby past, especially my relationship with a certain woman I regret having disappointed."

Cohen skipped off stage after three encores and a standing ovation at the packed LG Arena in Birmingham on Sunday where he played self-penned hits including Hallelujah, So Long, Marianne and I'm Your Man.

The Canadian star also offered a master class in modesty - giving an individual name check to his entire 9-piece band, all his roadies and nearly a dozen members of his sound and stage crew.

At the start of the show Cohen told fans who paid up to £80 each for a ticket: "Thank you for endangering your household budget.

"It's been a long time since we've been here but I didn't want to make a nuisance of myself. I promise you, tonight we will give you everything we've got."

Fan Debbie Fox, 42, said after the concert: "That was amazing - he is such a charmer."

Engineer Mike Davies,53, said: "My wife bought two tickets for my birthday - it was the perfect gift."

Buy tickets for Leonard Cohen's London show this weekend by clicking on the link below: