The first time Bruce Springsteen went to London he discovered that…

Yesterday Bruce Springsteen he received an Academy Fellowship at the Ivor Novello Awards, and is the first US artist to receive it. During his acceptance speech, the 74-year-old musician from New Jersey spoke of his relationship with Great Britain, recalling the first time he visited London in 1975.

Here are some passages from his speech: “The food on the plane wasn't great, my first thought when we landed at Heathrow was: 'Where are all the cheeseburgers?' The cheeseburgers had been hidden or replaced with something called fish and chips I knew what a fish was, but I didn't know what a chips was. The next stop was the Hammersmith Odeon, where I was greeted by a huge sign that announced: 'London is finally ready for Bruce Springsteen'. All I thought was: 'If London isn't ready for a cheeseburger, it might not be ready for me!'”

At the Ivor Novello ceremony,

Bruce Springsteen was presented by Paul McCartneywho affectionately teased him by saying (among other things), “As with Bruce's concerts, I'll keep it brief…”, later adding that he “couldn't think of a more fitting recipient except maybe Bob Dylan. Or Paul Simon, or Billy Joel, or Beyoncé, or Taylor Swift… and the list goes on.”

McCartney also joked about Springsteen's reputation as the emblem of the working man with stars and stripes. “He's known as the American worker, but he admits he's never worked a day in his life.”