The word ‘genial’ might have been invented for Sir Tim Rice, who was onstage at Lighthouse discussing his glittering career in musicals.

Ultra polite, humble, self-effacing and friendly, he chatted about the stories behind the songs, the hits and misses and much more in between.

From Joseph, Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita to Aladdin, The Lion King and The Wizard of Oz, Rice has been there, done that.

And there was also a chance to hear many of his songs as performed by West End singers and musicians led by musical director Duncan Waugh.

What was not to like for a Friday night’s entertainment?

Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Rice, who turns 80 in November, was born in a country house near Amersham, was knighted for services to music in 1994, is on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, has won more awards than most people have had cooked breakfasts and has written the lyrics of some of the most popular songs ever heard in musicals.

He has also found the time to co-found the essential music reference book The Guinness Book of Hit Singles, host or guest on countless TV or radio shows, form his own cricket team, serve as MCC president and be one of a mere handful of folk to have an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony, or EGOT as it’s known.

And here he was, recalling all that in his gentle, mellifluous voice.

The four-piece band and quartet of singers arrived first, striking up Any Dream Will Do from Joseph & The Amazing Technocolor Dreamcoat before Rice, a tall man, ambled/shuffled on to stage wearing a blue jacket, scruffy trousers, white socks and slip-on shoes – as though he was off to the pub or on a boat trip.

Then the failed law student, with hardly a look at his notes on a table next to the stool where he perched during the musical interludes, took us chronologically through his life in music, with relevant songs being performed by the talented octet at regular intervals.

We had the story of his meeting with Andrew Lloyd Webber and the school production which made Joseph famous – including the revelation that boys at Colet Court School in Barnes, west London, had rewritten the track Joseph’s Coat to include 29 colours rather than Rice’s original five. They never got any royalties.

The rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar followed, with singer Sandy Grigelis meandering through the audience singing Heaven On Their Minds (as done by Murray Head as Judas on the original concept album), and we had the interesting sight of Rice himself singing the original words of his song Kansas Morning, the tune of which later became I Don’t Know How To Love Him.

Evita followed as the pair’s career blossomed, with a medley of I’d Be Surprisingly Good For You, High Flying Adored and Another Suitcase In Another Hall. Rice’s Emmy and Tony won for the show were brought on and placed on a pedestal.

This was really the best part of the evening and more anecdotes and insight into the Lloyd Webber partnership and craft of songwriting would have been welcome.

Instead we moved on through their parting of the ways (Lloyd Webber didn’t need a lyricist for Cats) and Rice instead wrote A Winter’s Tale for David Essex with Mike Batt and the words for John Barry’s theme to the Bond movie Octopussy, All Time High, as sung by Rita Coolidge.

The trials and tribulations of writing about the Fischer/Spassky rivalry that was Chess, with Abbs’s Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, came next. It enveloped the interval with part two starting with the barnstormer One Night In Bangkok.

After this point the show lulled a little as Rice took us through the Elton John co-written Aida and then From Here To Eternity, the Hawaii pre-war tale done jointly with Stuart Brayson. Neither was particularly familiar to these ears.

The performers deserve a mention – as well as the aforementioned Grigelis, they included Shonagh Daly, Madalena Alberto and John Addison, and it was easily apparent they all have extensive show experience.

Rice, now wearing blue suede shoes, got back on track with an excellent anecdote about how he reunited with Lloyd Webber to write a number for Elvis Presley, very much then the epitome of songwriting success. It took a while to achieve but Presley finally recorded the country ballad It’s Easy For You, which was the last track on his 1977 album Moody Blue. Sadly, Elvis dying shortly afterwards was a bit of a dampener as Way Down was the single out at the time and got all the attention.

The Disney years, writing songs for The Lion King with Elton John and then with Alan Menken for Aladdin brough forth more glory – and the night’s best tales (such as how Rice thanked cricket legend Denis Compton during his Oscar acceptance speech for Can You Feel The Love Tonight, utterly befuddling American showbiz journalists).

An Oscar was duly brought on to stage (the Tony was already there) to great acclaim. Rice has three and we soon enjoyed a medley of Can You Feel…, A Whole New World and You Must Love Me, an underwhelming new song written for Madonna for the film version of Evita with the express intention of winning the award.

Rice’s other award came on – the Pointless Celebrities trophy he won with fellow lyricist Don Black and which he claimed was he most beloved – before the show closed with a shouty Don’t Cry For Me Argentina and the encore Hakuna Matata as Rice exited stage left.