LOCAL

TAKING 'our father' TO NO. 1: Cliff Richard was delighted when he got his knighthood in 1995; now he's thrilled with his unlikely return to the top of the charts.

The 59-year-old pop singer reached No. 1 on the British charts Sunday with The Millennium Prayer -- a song that combines the words of The Lord's Prayer with the music of Auld Lang Syne.

Industry experts said the song didn't have a prayer when the top radio stations in Britain refused to play it in early November.

Maybe it was divine intervention, but the latest British pop charts show Sir Cliff has knocked the heartthrob group Boyzone down to No. 2 and stalled Spice Girl Mel C.'s latest at No. 3.

What this says about Britain on the eve of the millennium is unclear, but it's plain that Sir Cliff's fans are deeply devoted.

"We decided to play it and let the people decide," said John Ogden, station director at Liberty Radio in London. "A lot of people in radio have a complete down on Cliff, so we were one of the first to play it," Mr. Ogden told the Citizen yesterday in a telephone interview.

"The DJ -- David (Diddy) Hamilton -- is a personal friend of Cliff's. He likes the song, so we added it to the playlist. Now there's talk that Cliff may buy the radio station."

Proceeds from the record go to a charity that helps children around the world. The song has caused a stir in Britain, with pop critics complaining that the words and the melody don't really mesh, not to mention the overall tackiness of the concept.

But some religious leaders are claiming that, thanks to the song, more people know the words to the Lord's Prayer than at any time since the 1960s. If that's true, then the clergy deserve some of the credit. They responded when Sir Cliff's public relations firm sent an appeal to churches asking them to spread the word about The Millennium Prayer.

The record, all strings and synthesizers, adds a new verse to The Lord's Prayer which begins: "Let all the people say Amen/ In every tribe and tongue./ Let every heart's desire be joined/ To see the kingdom come."

Sir Cliff's last big hit in Canada was Devil Woman back in the 1970s, with lyrics including: "She's just a devil woman/ With evil on her mind/ She's just a devil woman/ She's gonna getcha from behind."

A fundamentalist Christian who believes in celibacy and dieting, Sir Cliff has been taken aback by the fuss.

"I'm the one who has been dubbed the nice boy of pop, and suddenly I find myself hated, with people on television telling the public, 'Don't buy it'," he said in a BBC radio interview.

"And I'm thinking, 'Gosh, this is for charity. I'm just a pop singer and this is a charity record.'

The song is now available in most of Europe, but has not been released yet in North America.

Dan Furlan, floor manager at CD Warehouse on Merivale Road, said yesterday the store has ordered some import copies of the single.

"But it may take a month to get here," he said.

If The Millennium Prayer stays at the top of the charts until January, it will mark the sixth decade that Sir Cliff has had a No. 1 single in Britain.

Not bad for a singer who started out in the 1950s as England's answer to Elvis.