Why Elvis is always on my mind

"When I was a lad they used to play music at train stations," says Darrel, who lives in Oldbury. "At the time I suffered from polio and every week my parents took me to hospital in Birmingham from our home in Cradley Heath.

"When we arrived at Snow Hill Station I heard the tune Mystery Train being played. I was nine years old and just getting into music so when my mum asked me what I wanted for Christmas I told her I would like a record player and the Elvis song that I heard at the train station."

Darrel never received the record as a present but went on to collect hundreds of The King's songs along with memorabilia ranging from photos and signatures to replica gold discs. He also has a copy of one of Elvis's well-known Taking Care of Business, or TCB rings, named after his motto. "The TCB was the last ring that Elvis ever wore – six copies of it were made and I have one of them," says Darrel, 62, who used to work as a machinist in Cradley Heath.

"My favourite Elvis song is called Don't and it was recorded in 1958 – it is not one of his well-known tunes but it is lovely."

Darrel, whose wife Susan died in 1994, has been to Memphis four times and with each trip he visits Graceland at least seven times. "I have been inside the house so many times and one thing that strikes you is how small it is," he says.

"When I first went in 1992 the trip cost £700 and in 2007 I paid £2,500 so I'm going to have to do a lot of saving for the next journey to Memphis," he adds.

Darrel says people often think Elvis was perfect but he knows that the legend had his faults. "Perfect people are boring and Elvis certainly wasn't boring," says Darrel. "He was like the rest of us, he had his good and bad points but at the end of the day he was an amazing musician and performer."