And you can tell everybody how I blew £40 million

Sir Elton John worked his way through nearly £40m in less than two years when he went "spending mad" after a big record deal, the High Court was told yesterday.

Sir Elton John worked his way through nearly £40m in less than two years when he went "spending mad" after a big record deal, the High Court was told yesterday.

His expenditure, which averaged £2m a month, included nearly £10mon property and £300,000 on flowers.

Giving evidence yesterday, the 53-year-old singer did not deny the lavish spending spree, and said: "I have no one to leave the money to. I'm a single man. I like spending my money."

He was being cross examined by Mark Hapgood, QC, who is representing the accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, formerly Price Waterhouse.

The firm looked after Sir Elton's business interests and is being sued for negligence, as is Andrew Haydon, the former managing director of John Reid Enterprises (JREL), which was his management company.

Mr Hapgood suggested to Sir Elton that he went "spending mad" after a £42m recording deal with Polygram Records in February 1996. He said an accountants' report calculated he spent an average of £1.5m a month between January that year and September 1997.

He said that included £293,000 on flowers and £9.6m on property, which Sir Elton accepted. He suggested that the final total was £40m - an average of just under £2m a month, which Sir Elton did not deny.

The star accepted that he and his former manager John Reid both enjoyed a "somewhat lavish lifestyle".

The hearing continues.