Mural of Sir Cliff Richard on wall of Lucknow's Shaheed Path. He was born at KGMU in 1940.

LUCKNOW: Not many may remember Harry Rodger Webb, born in Lucknow in 1940 but they would know him as Sir Cliff Richard , the pop icon who has entertained the world with his music since the late 1950s. Richard, 77, whose mural was painted on a wall in Gomti Nagar in preparation for the UP investors' summit, has thanked the city for remembering him.

The music legend acknowledged the mural on his official Facebook account on Tuesday morning. “It’s seven decades since I was born in Lucknow, India and I can’t believe that they would honour me there in such a public way. If anyone in Lucknow is reading this, then thank you for remembering me. Cliff,” his post said. The mural has been painted along the Shaheed Path near Indira Gandhi Pratishthan in Gomtinagar under a project #BornInLucknow.

I was super stoked that Sir Richard took notice, said Saini

Yogesh Saini, founder of Delhi Street Art that was behind the murals, said that they had honoured the people who were born in Lucknow and painted six murals that included one of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. “After we painted the Richard mural, I went on Twitter to see if I could tag him. While Sir Richards is not on Twitter, I tagged a fan account that looked fairly official. Then I forgot all about it. This was three days ago,” Saini said.

On Tuesday, Saini was surprised with a message on Facebook by a person who introduced himself as the owner of a radio station in New Zealand who is close to Richard and said he had shared the Delhi Street Art post with him. “This person told me that Sir Richard liked the post and had reacted to it. He then sent me a link to his Facebook account on which he had thanked Lucknow. I was super stoked that Sir Richard took notice and sent apersonal note of appreciation! It shows that deep down he is a humble, down-to-earth person!” Saini added. Richard was born at the King George’s Medical College hospital in 1940. His paternal grandfather lived in the colony near Sibtainabad Imambara in Hazratganj.

