So THAT'S why he's called Hump

The years - like the women, and the moustaches - may come and go, but some things remain comfortingly constant.

Engelbert Humperdinck's hair is the colour of 黒人／ボイコット 署名／調印する. It has been this colour - an unnatural colour, 認めるd - for some 50 years now. He first 攻撃する，衝突する the 瓶／封じ込める, so to speak, when he was a struggling young singer and, to his horror, going 未熟に grey at 20. He's been having a little rinse every six weeks since then. Half a century on, he still can't 耐える the thought of looking old.

"I couldn't go on 行う／開催する／段階 then with grey hair, and I can't now," he 収容する／認めるs, with a little shudder. "To me, looking in the mirror and seeing grey hair means feeling old. I don't have the slightest 願望（する） to know what that feels like."

There's something different about this particular 色合い, though. Usually the colour is 適用するd by his hairdresser in LA, but Enge - as his fans call him - was in the UK over Christmas, which 提起する／ポーズをとるd something of a 窮地.

Who could be 信用d with the rejuvenation of those famous sideburns (the ones that Elvis copied, he'll have you know). There was only one person he could think of: his wife Patricia. And my, oh my, is he pleased with the results.

"She did 承認する, don't you think?" he says, smoothing a few wayward locks behind his ears. "She's wonderful, my wife. I'd be lost without her."

Funnily enough, Engelbert met the long-苦しむing Patricia in the same year he started dyeing his hair. 支援する then, he was called plain old Arnold George Dorsey, and no woman had ever considered throwing her knickers at him.

When they married in 1964, Pat wasn't to know that the gangly, insecure young man she had fallen in love with would go on to become the self-styled King of Romance, a man as famed for his way with the ladies as for his cheesy love songs.

Pat was once famously 引用するd as 説 you could have papered the 塀で囲むs of their home wit h the paternity 控訴s her husband had been served with.

Today Engelbert is in reflective mood in his office at home, a cavernous 支持を得ようと努めるd-panelled 事件／事情／状勢 where the 塀で囲むs groan under gold レコードs and pictures of Engelbert with Dean ツバメ, Engelbert with Elvis, Engelbert with Cary 認める. He 特に likes the one of himself with Mae West.

"She said: 'You're a big boy, and I'm not talking about your 高さ,' " he volunteers. His wife rolls her 注目する，もくろむs.

He still takes this King of Romance thing very 本気で, 説 - and truly believing -things like: "I think I was born with a heart of love."

He starts reciting poetry, and 率直に wondering how many children in the world have been conceived to the 緊張するs of his music. He rails at how modern life seems to have lost something of the passion that has driven most of his.

"The world has changed," he says.

"Television, internet - it has all become so 急速な／放蕩な and furious. Nothing is 本物の any more. Nobody 令状s love letters.

"Before, it was all done in passion and love - the stamp was 調印（する）d with a loving kiss. Now people send an e-mail. It's instant, quick, 冷淡な. Not warming at all."

His wife is a more practical soul, however, and it soon becomes （疑いを）晴らす that life with Enge isn't all 甘い-nothings and serenades.

When her husband goes to have his picture taken, Patricia 勧めるs me to the bathroom, but pops in first to see that everything is in order.

"Just checking he hasn't left the seat up," she explains, apologetically. "You know what men are like."

Where would we all be if Patricia had taken her new father-in-法律's advice and 納得させるd her husband to get a proper 職業?

It all began for the couple 40 years ago this week, when 解放（する） Me - still his most famous song - was 解放（する）d, 結局 making it to No. 1, and keeping The Beatles off the 最高の，を越す 位置／汚点／見つけ出す.

The 残り／休憩（する） is history - and a rather lucrative one at that. There have been 77 albums, 130 million 記録，記録的な／記録するs sold, 64 gold レコードs and 24 platinum ones.

At his 頂点（に達する）, Engelbert had 200 fan clubs around the world and routinely needed police 護衛するs just to get to his car after a concert.

On one occasion he climbed into the limo wearing only the cuffs of his shirt - every other piece of 着せる／賦与するing had been ripped from him by over-熱心な admirers. Upstairs, there are trunks of ladies' panties, which he 主張するs are still 存在 追加するd to.

The only difference, he quips, is that the panties are a little bigger these days.

He is still 小旅行するing, 普通の／平均（する）ing 100 dates a year, and says he won't consider retiring for at least another five years.

But what sort of life is the 70-year-old singer enjoying now? From the outside, things look rather cosy. He 分裂（する）s his time between his Leicester home, where he has his own pub in the grounds, and another mansion in LA.

However, he laughs - a little 激しく, it must be said - about the Rich 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） 報告（する）／憶測s, which always （人命などを）奪う，主張する that he is 価値（がある） something in the 地域 of £100 million.

"That's nonsense. 絶対の nonsense," he says. "It's nowhere 近づく that. Oh, if they 追加するd up what I could have been 価値（がある）, going on 記録，記録的な／記録するs sold, that sort of 人物／姿／数字 would be 権利, but it's just not. I've been robbed many times, by 管理／経営, by people I 信用d.

"I kick myself now when I think of what could have been."

The 広大な gold and diamond （犯罪の）一味 on his pinkie glistens, telling its own story, but he 主張するs that his is not a lavish lifestyle.

"I only have six cars," he says, with a 完全に straight 直面する. "That's not a lot for someone in my position."

If his car collection has been 規模d-負かす／撃墜する, so too has his collection of mistresses.

For many years he 簡単に 辞退するd to talk about the womanising that defined him as much as his threeanda-half octave 発言する／表明する.

Two years ago, how ever, he wrote his autobiography, and was astonishingly candid about what he had done. Even more remarkably, his wife herself penned the most powerful 一時期／支部 of all, 解任するing how she had felt about his infidelities.

She said she felt 傷つける and humiliated by his behaviour, and had stayed with him for the sake of the children. Today, he takes his hat off to her.

"With hindsight, it was the best thing she could have done. It got everything out in the open. I think it 示すd a new 行う／開催する／段階 in our marriage."

To say he is sorry about cheating on his wife so often and so 公然と would be an exaggeration, though.

He won't 収容する／認める that he made mistakes, but 会談 expansively about his "heart of love". "It's all a learning experience," he says ばく然と. "Everybody goes through it."

By "it" he means sleeping your way around your fan clubs.

"It's 肉親，親類d of an obvious thing that might happen in showbusiness," he explains. "It's happened to most 指名するs in the 産業.

"But you can't put it all 負かす／撃墜する to showbusiness. It happens in every sphere of life. Men have always been hunters, you know, from the beginning of time. It is part of nature."

So if he'd been an electrician, say, he would have had just as many women? He smiles.

"I don't think it would have been as much, but, 井戸／弁護士席, who knows? It's still the same 団体／死体, same 発言する／表明する, same thoughts, same person."

Engelbert is staggeringly proud of his 評判 as an 反対する of lust.

At one point I talk about his songs 存在 about love, rather than sex. He begs to 異なる.

"Oh no, there really was a lot of sex 伴う／関わるd. The things I am 説 in my songs relate to sex, really.

"I'm taking my audience into that world of fantasy, 配達するing something into the 長，率いる of that man in the audience putting his arm around his woman."

And he sees his own 性の prowess as a 決定的な part of the machine. "When you a re portraying a love 状況／情勢 on 行う／開催する／段階, 井戸／弁護士席, it's not something you can （不足などを）補う. You can't 行為／法令／行動する it. You have to feel that passion yourself. You have to live it."

And so he did. Over and over again, with 報道によれば hundreds of women. And he's やめる 有能な of 正当化するing it all to himself.

"I don't think I've 傷つける anyone," he says. Er, your wife?

"I 傷つける my wife, yes, in a way, but not other people, and not 故意に. Or if I have, I'm truly sorry. I believe in 許す and forget. Life is too short to 耐える grudges." On the 加える 味方する, he says that if his wife were unfaithful he would 受託する the 状況／情勢, although I'm not sure if I believe him. He doesn't know if she has ever cheated on him.

"I don't want to know. I've never asked. If she has been, 井戸／弁護士席, there would be an understanding. I would be upset, 明白に. My ego would be upset, but jealous?

"No, I don't think so. What's sauce for the goose. . . besides, in this life, you have to find something in your heart to 許す."

The only 悔いる he seems to have 関心s the 影響 his 伝説の womanising had on his children.

He has three sons and a daughter with Pat, now in their late 30s and 40s, all of whom grew up with the playground taunts about their lothario father （犯罪の）一味ing in their ears.

He has one love child he has been 軍隊d to 認める after he was ordered to make 維持／整備 支払い（額）s to former Sunday school teacher Kathy Jetter, who brought a paternity 控訴 after the birth of her daughter Jennifer in 1977.

In 1974, Californian showgirl Diane Vincent とじ込み／提出するd a 控訴 （人命などを）奪う，主張するing he was the father of her four-year-old daughter Angelique, and though he was 軍隊d to make a one-off 支払い（額）, he has never 認める the child was his.

"Now that is something I 悔いる," he says. "They put up with an awful lot, what with all the publicity about paternity 控訴s."

I wonder what lessons his children learned about marriage? Would it bother him if his sons were unfaithful to their partners? He looks bemused. "I'm sure they have been."

What's 利益／興味ing is that for most of their marriage Pat and Engelbert led almost 完全に separate lives. Rather like Tom Jones's reclusive wife, Pat never liked the showbiz scene, and 活発に 避けるd joining her husband on 小旅行する.

He likes to 描写する himself as a man with a voracious 性の appetite, but I wonder how many of his dalliances were born from the fact that his wife wasn't at his 味方する, massaging that terribly delicate ego.

"She never really got 伴う／関わるd in my 味方する of the 商売／仕事," he 収容する／認めるs. "Maybe that was the 推論する／理由 things happened on the road. If she had been there, 井戸／弁護士席, they probably wouldn't have. You know how it is. Out of sight. . ."

Even at home, however, he feels she distanced herself from his work, which he says 傷つける him.

"I'd say "Come in and listen to these songs," but mostly she wouldn't. She thought that my 商売／仕事 was my 商売／仕事, but I 猛烈に 手配中の，お尋ね者 her opinion. I 手配中の，お尋ね者 her to be 伴う／関わるd. Many times, I felt that I took second place to the children."

Now, though, things seem to be different. He 会談 about his wife with pride, tickled pink that she is 平等に proud of him.

"With the 最新の album, she （機の）カム in and she lay 負かす／撃墜する here, on the couch where you are sitting, and she had her 注目する，もくろむs の近くにd, just listening. When it was over, I asked her what she thought and she said: 'I think it's fabulous.' I can't tell you how much that meant to me."

In fact, it's rather touching, this new 一時期／支部 Enge and Mrs Humperdinck have 乗る，着手するd on, in their twilight years.

For the first time, she is 小旅行するing with him -"although she only wants to go to the exotic places," he complains.

At home, they are 現実に spending time together, too. It appears something of a novelty.

"We go out to restaurants now. We sit 負かす／撃墜する with a b ottle of ワイン, have dinner together and talk. I think we enjoy each other's company. It really is rather lovely. We never really did that with the children."

He is honest about how の近くに they （機の）カム over the years to splitting up. "She had to put up with so much, and yes, there were times when I, too, thought it would be easier to go our separate ways, but in the end I couldn't do it. The 関係 that bound us were too strong."

But while he seems to be getting new satisfaction from his marriage, there are 面s of family life that 苦痛 him.

Three of the couple's children have followed their father into the entertainment 商売／仕事. Louise is a singer-songwriter, Bradley an aspiring singer, and Scott 作品 for his dad.

The children's continued 構成要素 依存 on their father is something that 明確に rankles, however.

"I've given them more than they should have had. They should have earned their keep by now, and they 港／避難所't."

Does he mean he is still supporting them all financially?

"To an extent, yes," he says. "I know I shouldn't be, at this 行う／開催する／段階, and I don't want to be." He gazes out over the expansive lawns and seems irritated. 'I suppose they will 相続する my money, but you can soon go through everything if you 港／避難所't got a 商売／仕事 brain.

"All my children are very talented. Bradley is a wonderful singer. Louise is so very gifted. They all are - but 非，不，無 of them has the 運動 to take that talent and turn it into something wonderful.

"It does 失望させる me. At their 行う／開催する／段階, I was out banging on doors, making it happen. They don't.

"Oh, I've tried to help them. I've had them on 行う／開催する／段階 with me. But you can only do so much.'

The son he seems proudest of, perversely, is Jason, the only one who didn't follow him into the entertainment 商売／仕事.

"He takes care of himself, which is wonderful. He has a 正規の／正選手 職業, in the 着せる／賦与するing 貿易（する）. I admire him, I do . He's on his own two feet."

Engelbert 主張するs that he is terribly の近くに to his children. He speaks to his daughter three or four times a day. His sons, however, are a different 事柄. Again, he hates the way they live their lives, and he isn't afraid to say so.

"I have to tell you that as a son, I was in touch with my beloved parents every 選び出す／独身 day. It didn't 事柄 whether I was here or in Timbuktu, I called them. Every day, I fed them with my life."

By contrast, his sons don't seem to bother, and he takes that as a 調印する of disrespect. "Three, four, weeks can go by without a phone call, and, yes, that can be very hurtful," he says.

Telling a 完全にする stranger how your children have disappointed you is やめる an astonishing thing to do, but Engelbert seems to think they need a little 揺さぶる.

"Maybe they will read this article and say 'Yes, Dad is 権利. We need to start making more of an 成果／努力.' I don't think I'm 存在 厳しい.

"If anything, I've been too soft. My father was a strict man. He was やめる Victorian about these things. I think I should have been a little more like him."

They are curious family values for a man who 棒 roughshod over his own marriage 公約するs, but Engelbert 主張するs that marriage and family are at the centre of his world.

He is a little peeved that Bradley has a child out of wedlock [one of his three grandchildren].

"I would like them all to be married, to do the 権利 thing, even if in doing so they do the wrong thing," he says, with a sly smile.

But what of the old charmer himself? Can Pat really be 確信して that he himself is doing the "権利 thing" these days. He 小衝突s away a question about his own fidelity, and his 注目する，もくろむs dance.

"You know what, if I don't look - I'm dead," is all he will say.

Whatever, he remains 納得させるd of his irresistibility to women. I 試験的に raise the 問題／発行する of fading looks and dwindling sex 控訴，上告. He shows a lot of very white teeth and tells me he takes 14 ビタミン 補足（する）s a day.

Moreover, his fans still throw those knickers. "They still shout. They still 叫び声をあげる," he says. "Until that stops, I have it."