Russell Brand was so overcome with emotion during his proposal to Katy Perry that he found it difficult to talk. The British comedian admitted he was lost for words when he asked the I Kissed a Girl singer to marry him.

"Katy sat down and I went onto one knee. It's strange when life becomes all intense and serious like that," he said. "It becomes almost magical. And me, I'm not normally lost for words but in that moment I spoke dead quietly, asked her to marry me, and she said yes. It was very sweet and tender, and the world felt very small and perfect."

Russell popped the question in the early hours of New Year's Day, during a romantic trip to India.

He said his original plan was to propose while riding on an elephant under the blue moon at midnight, but the animal panicked during the fireworks display.

"On New Year's eve - at midnight - I'd organized all sorts of things to make it authentic and wonderful," he said. "There were these gentlemen in turbans holding blazing torches, the blue moon lit the sky. The elephant arrived at midnight, it was wearing make-up... it looked a bit tarty but it still had class. Truculent that elephant was. It had an attitude.

"We mounted the elephant because it was my plan to ask her to marry me on the back of that elephant at midnight. But the thing is, at midnight, they set off fireworks. Elephants don't like fireworks and he had an attitude anyway.

"Thankfully he maintained control of his functions, but he really carried on. I thought, 'This is not a way to start a marriage. On top of a big grey fleshy storm.' So what I did is we got off and we entered an area where there was a fountain. Flowers were scattered everywhere, the moon shone on. She sat down, it was quiet - the elephant had run off by then. It was like it knew it had been bad."