The flowered silk shirt

It's amazing how Elvis Presley keeps turning up when you least expect it. This afternoon I was sitting on a train bound for home after two days work in Stockholm, reading one of my favorite authors, Clive Cussler.

For you not familiar with his work, Mr Cussler is a bestselling American novelist writing action adventures involving lost ships, heroes, megalomaniacs, beautiful women and sunken treasure. I've loved his books since my early teens, and apart from being highly entertaining they've been great textbooks when it comes to me learning English.

Anyway, there I was, reading one of his latest books, The Navigator, when suddenly Elvis makes an appearance in it. Well, almost. The situation is this: The hero of the book, Kurt Austin, has invited Italian beauty Carina Mechadia over for dinner. As she arrives, she compliments his flowered silk shirt. Kurt answers:

"Thanks. Elvis Presley wore the same design in the movie Blue Hawaii."

I thought it was a great line, and a nice detail in the dialogue. Apparently Clive Cussler had done his homework, as he both knew that Elvis made a movie called Blue Hawaii, and that Elvis wore flowered shirts in it.

Unfortunately, that was the only appearance Elvis made during their date, and I was a bit disappointed when:

"Austin put on a recording from his extensive jazz collection..."

In my opinion, the soundtrack from Blue Hawaii would've been a better choice, what with the flowered shirt and all. Still, being both an Elvis Presley and Clive Cussler fan, it was nice to see their paths cross, so to speak.

PS: Turns out Elvis and Clive have at least one thing in common, their love for cars. Actually, there's both a Cussler car museum and an Elvis Presley automobile museum. You can read about Elvis' cars here and Clive's cars here.