The Kinks rocker Ray Davies was "terrified" when his microphone broke just seconds before he was about to take to the stage at the Olympic Games closing ceremony.
The veteran star was on the bill of the prestigious event in London on Sunday (13Aug12) to sing his classic track Waterloo Sunset as part of a celebration of British music.
Davies' performance attracted criticism from some quarters for his shaky vocals, but now the singer has revealed he was thrown into a panic as he entered the arena in a taxi.
Davies tells the Bbc, "First they were going to fly me on with a big wire and a crane, then they discussed about building a tunnel, then they settled for a taxi cab to take me on. And in the taxi cab my microphone came off - and next stop was the stage, to start singing!
"I managed to thump it together with some gaffer tape... (I was) terrified. (But you need to) just go on, smile, and get on with it. The whole thing was down to a piece of wire that came undone."