Soundtrack to their life from Cliff Richard

Michael and Jean Sampson's devotion to the Peter Pan of Pop has provided the soundtrack of their life together.

Michael wooed Jean with records and souvenirs of her hero Cliff Richard and the couple have attended a concert together on each of his tours - more than 30 over the years.

And now Michael has penned a poem to celebrate the singer's 70th birthday on October 14. Cliff is described as "a great pop icon, of that there is no doubt" in the heartfelt tribute.

The couple plan to send the poem to the magazine for the singer's fan club, of which Jean is a member.

"The poem is a thank you for the music because it helps you remember a time and place when you first heard it and it can pick you up when you are feeling down," Michael says.

"A love of music helped bring us together and it has been wonderful to be able to share that. I had already written poems on a range of topics so I thought it would a nice thing to write about what we both have got so much enjoyment from."

Part of the poem was written in the 1960s by Jean's sister Judy Flavell, 60, and their former neighbour June Oliver, who wrote some of the words after watching Cliff's hit film Summer Holiday.

Michael and Jean, who met while they worked together in the offices at Hale and Hale Foundry in Church Lane, Tipton, have spent thousands of pounds travelling the length and breadth of the country to the music icon's concerts, never missing a tour.

They once travelled to Newcastle for a show after they missed out on tickets for performances in Birmingham.

One of their earliest concerts was when Cliff played to an intimate show at a cabaret club in Usk, Gwent in the late 1960s in front of around 200 people.

"It was a really intimate show with only a few fans there," Jean says. "I even remember seeing Cliff's mother and sister in the toilets."

They have collected hundreds of Cliff Richard records, CDs, tour DVDs and souvenirs including plates and programmes at their home in Kingswinford.

Michael, aged 64, and Jean, aged 65, say Cliff's reunion tour with his former band The Shadows last year was the greatest show they've seen. Jean has been a fan from the time the singer released Move It in 1958 when she was just 15. And a face-to-face meeting with her idol following a concert at Birmingham Odeon in 1961 was a once-in-a-lifetime treat. "I went to the concert with my friend Veronica who had taken along a pair of shoes for him as a present," she says.

"We had been talking about the shoes and we didn't know but sitting behind us was Ian Samwell who wrote Move It.

"He overheard us and invited us backstage to meet him. "Of course we said 'yes' but when Cliff finally came up to us, I was so dumbstruck that I don't think I even spoke to him and I can't even remember the conversation as I was just in shock.

"We shook hands and I always say that I never washed that hand for a fortnight."

She also travelled to down to London to 60s celebrity hangout, the 2i's Coffee Bar, in Old Compton Street, Soho, hoping to see Cliff because she heard he was a customer - but he was not there. When Michael and Jean began courting in 1963, Michael was a fan of Elvis Presley after hearing one of his early songs on the radio.

"I remember hearing Jailhouse Rock and just thought I had to buy it so I went into Dudley to the Broadmeads store and it cost me six and eight pence," he said.

Soon the couple were exchanging records. Although Cliff's hits span the decades, the couple easily pick Ocean Deep, followed by Move It and Living Doll as their favourites.