Ant and Dec might be the UK's most popular presenters - but Sir Elton John definitely isn't a fan

Sir Elton appeared on Ken Bruce’s BBC Radio 2 programme and revealed he would love to do Seaside Special, a BBC variety show from the 1970s in which a big top played host to names such as The Wurzels, Keith Harris and Orville, and Ronnie Corbett.

He said: “We’ve never done a Seaside Special. They should bring that back. I think Ant and Dec need another exposure, don’t they. It’s about their level, I would say.”

But it’s unlikely the Britain’s Got Talent, I’m A Celebrity and Saturday Night Takeaway hosts will be bothered – they recently picked up the most popular TV presenter gong at the National Television Awards for the 15th time in a row.

Sir Elton was on the radio show promoting his new album Wonderful Crazy Night, which he called a “joyous record” designed for arenas.

He said: “The last one was a very intimate record and piano-based record and I wanted to make a record with the band and make it upbeat lyrically and musically, and I wanted to be able to play the songs on stage.”

The 68-year-old said it came from being “in a good place in my life”.

He said: “I’m very happy with it. It’s very ‘up’ and it’s hard for me to write ‘up’ songs. As a piano player, I usually write miserable songs.

“I think I’m in a good place in my life, so was Bernie Taupin who writes the lyrics. It was planned, sometimes planning doesn’t work out to be the way it should but it all came together in the studio and it was done very quickly, and that’s how I wanted it to be and it’s a fun record.”

The upbeat album might be out of character for Sir Elton, but he certainly hasn’t lost his “prima donna streak” – it took him three hours to get ready for the show.

He told Bruce: “It takes me three hours to get decent. I woke up at four o’clock (in the morning) today to get presentable to come to you all the way from Windsor.”

Wonderful Crazy Night is released on Friday.