Michael Feinstein

I can't tell you how excited I am.

This week I met a man in Middlesbrough who has tattooed Rosebud on his arm.

I think we've arrived.

Cue the music.

Yes, this is Rosebud and I'm Giles Brandreth, but I'm not in London's Park Lane.

I'm actually in New York's Central Park, or overlooking Central Park.

It's a beautiful view.

It's a lovely day for meeting somebody, to me, who feels like an old friend.

I've not actually met him face to face before, but I first saw him when I was in New York in the 1980s as a cabaret performer.

He was singing at a piano in a room at the famous Algonquin Hotel.

And I was taken to see him because I was told this is a musical sensation.

He's called Michael Feinstein.

You must see him.

You'll be blown away.

Nobody seems to know and understand him.

the great American songbook like he does.

And they told me, you know, he knew Oscar Levant, he knew Ira Gershwin.

And I went into the room and there was this very young man at a piano and it was magical.

So I've admired him for many years.

And he's obviously a musicologist.