Cliff's Botox frown

He is the eternal Young One. But Sir Cliff Richard's attempts to hold on to those boyish features have not been without a price.

Yesterday he told how he tried cosmetic techniques to reduce the lines on his forehead, but quickly regretted it.

Three years ago, Sir Cliff started using Botox in an attempt to keep the wrinkles at bay.

But the singer, who turns 64 in October, says he had to give up the injections because they made his eyebrows droop.

'People still insist on calling me the Peter Pan of Pop which, to be honest, I find a terrific pressure,' he said. 'I've already tried Botox, but I went off it. It wasn't painful, but the effect for me was that my eyebrows seemed to drop and I didn't like the look of it.'

The unfortunate experience has not put him off plastic surgery altogether, however.

'I'm not against the principle of cosmetic surgery,' he said. 'If my career's still going strong when I'm 70 and everything's beginning to sag, yes, I'll have plastic surgery. And I won't care who knows.'

Botox has become Britain's most popular cosmetic treatment, used by celebrities including Liz Hurley, Lulu and Kylie Minogue. But many query what its long-term effects might be. Apart from drooping eyelids, some users have reported headaches.

A survey by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says up to four in ten people who have Botox suffer some sort of side- effect. The treatment uses a purified version of the toxin botulinum to relax muscles and thus smooth out the skin. It is usually used around the eyes and on the forehead. It costs around £200 for an injection lasting six months and can even be bought on the High Street.

Sir Cliff, whose career has spanned an astonishing six decades, revealed he had started using Botox on his forehead three years ago after being introduced to it by his sisters.

He said at the time that he did it because of his job. 'I've tried this stuff called Botox,' he said. 'I had some injected into my forehead to see if I could rid myself of lines.

'Because of this Peter Pan of Pop title, I have had to live up to something that nobody actually can. You are going to age, that is a fact of life. If I wasn't a celebrity then I wouldn't care about how much things dropped or drooped.'

In the past, Sir Cliff has put his youthful looks down to good genes. 'My sisters and I inherited my mother's genes,' he said. 'She has always looked much younger than her age.'

And for the time being, i t appears he has no intention of giving up his place as Britain's most enduring pop star. He is planning two new albums.

The first will be yet another onslaught on the Christmas charts with a collection including a reworking of the theme to The Snowman animation, Walking In The Air, a jazz version of Let It Snow and a new track called Santa' s List , which will be released as a single.

He is also recording a countryinspired album in Nashville, which he hopes will 'get me back on all the radio playlists'.