Settling down at the Groucho, I felt like waving to anyone who knew me. “Look! I’m over here! It’s me! Me! With RICK ASTLEY links of london rings!!” The uncomfortable star and genius hipswayer of “Never Gonna Give You Up” had reluctantly come out of his south London lair to chat to me about being an internet phenomenon; Rickrolling, as it’s known, has become such a craze that on 11 April, at 6pm, hundreds of people started dancing to “Never Gonna Give You Up” in Liverpool Street Station, and 13 million others have downloaded the link online links of london jewellery.
Was he interested in having his youthful career as an Eighties pop star reincarnated? Er, nope. “I don’t have a career, and haven’t had for years Charm Bracelet. There’s not been anything that I really wanted to get behind or felt comfortable with.” But the attention must be rather fun, mustn’t it? Again, no. “I never sit in the car driving into town thinking, ‘I’m Rick Astley!’ And if someone sees me on YouTube – well, I know it’s me, but I don’t carry that around with me all the time. I don’t consider myself famous.” What about the Rick Astley brand, then? “There is no Rick Astley brand,” he replies calmly. I tell him how normal he is Sweetie Bracelet. “I take that as a compliment,” he says.