Elton has been devoted to the Watford Football Club for many years, raising funds and serving as chairman for a time. So it’s no surprise that he is featured in a new book, GOLD! A Treasury of Watford FC Memorabilia 1881-1981. This is a joint project between the Watford Gold and Watford Treasury websites, curated by Tom Brodrick and Neil Dunham.

Neil told ej.w that the photos include a shot of Elton with the Watford Observer‘s Oli Phillips. Among the other highlights are a 1978 Promotion Book with a double page spread written by Elton; a gold disk presented to Elton for A Single Man and a solid gold Watford badge commissioned by the singer and later sold at auction. There’s also a four-page article about the  famous Terry Challis allegorical painting of Elton, astride a giant hornet.

In fact, Terry created another picture, this one of Elton at the piano. Neil thinks there is only one copy . . .  owned by longtime Watford FC supporter John Webb, who received it as a birthday present.

Neil hopes this will make the next volume, to cover 1981 to the present day. The curators believe it would be appropriate to cover the Elton John and Graham Taylor era more specifically here.

”It will need to cover some pre-1981 subjects,” Neil muses. ”We’ve got a ton of stuff to include, the biggest of which will be an original Elton Watford FC stage costume!”