Journey of discovery about her talented family

thanks to Kay

Olivia Newton-John Embarks On An Emotional Journey Of Discovery About Her Talented Family Tracing Their Roots With Her Sister In Wales

By Michael Hellicar

After a fascinating journey back in time to explore her Welsh roots, a thrilled, amazed and humbled Olivia Newton-John speaks with tears in her eyes: My only regret is my darling daddy did not live to make this journey with me. But I like to think he was watching me every step of the way and I know he would have been so proud.

In the company of her sister Rona, 64, the 59-year-old singer and actress was revisiting the places where her parents were born and brought up for a programme to be shown on BBC Wales on St David’s Day. Olivia was born in the UK to a Welsh father, Brinley, and Irene, the daughter of a Nobel Prize-winning German émigré physicist. They moved to Melbourne when Olivia was five, and today the internationally famous Grease star has homes in Australia and California, where she lives with Chloe, 22, her daughter by her ex-husband Matt Lattanzi.

Life hasn’t always been easy; she lost her partner Patrick McDermott in 2005 in mysterious circumstances, and her father died on the same weekend in 1992 that she was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was so devastated by my illness I never got a chance to mourn him properly as I was having to face my own mortality, she says.

In Wales, she has found some closure. I missed him so much but now I feel I’m close to him again. Perhaps for the first time I can come to terms with his passing.

Olivia, who is finding new happiness with her new partner, American businessman John Easterling, was moved to see her family tree. It sprang to life before my eyes. It was as if my whole family was in the room with me. I’ve learned a lot about my family and myself in the past few days and I'll pass on every detail to Chloe so that she knows her lineage.

It was an emotional time too for Rona, an ex-actress who appeared in 1970s British TV shows and now works in film production. Sadly, their brother Hugh, a doctor in Australia, was unable to join them. The sisters knew their dad was born in Cardiff in 1914 but beyond that knew little of their Welsh connection. What I hadn’t known was he was born in a Cardiff pub, says Olivia. His dad Oliver John married Daisy Newton, a barmaid at the New Market Tavern which her parents ran - she actually gave birth to him there. The other surprise was the pub is still there (now called O’Neill’s) and still run by our family - my distant cousin Paul Thomas is the manager.

Brinley was an intelligence officer during the Second World War and worked on the Enigma code-breaking machine. He also interrogated Hitler’s right-hand man Rudolf Hess after he parachuted into Scotland in 1941. The family lived in Cambridge after the war but moved to Australia in 1954 when Olivia’s father was appointed Master of Melbourne University’s Ormond College.

Olivia says her grandparents sometimes stayed at the Cambridge home, though she never went to Wales to see them. Olivia wouldn’t have done, Rona laughs. I used to be sent there when I’d been naughty. But Olivia was a little angel, never in trouble.

Brinlev had a brother, Emrys, also now dead, and a sister, Aerona, who is 87 and still lives in Cardiff. One surprise for Olivia and Rona in the programme is being reunited with Aunt Aerona in Cardiff. I can't believe I’m seeing you, Olivia cries as they smother each other with kisses. Aerona is just as excited. I follow your career and cut out every article about you, she tells her famous niece, adding to Hello! Just after Olivia’s birth, I went to Cambridge to help her mum out. Olivia was such a good little girl. I’m so proud of the way she has turned out.

My dad loved to visit his Uncle Tom, says Olivia. All 1 knew was he had one tooth and ran a farm. I’d never seen him until I was shown his photo. There are still mysteries to solve about Brinley, however. He never talked about his war work, and he wasn’t allowed to do so for 25 years because of the Official Secrets Act, says Olivia. But one day, I guess when that time had passed, he gave Rona and me a tape he had made about his work and his life. I didn’t listen to it. Then he died and I couldn’t listen because I knew I would be deeply affected by hearing his voice. But now when I get home I’m going to play it.

Missed Opportunities

Olivia admits she failed to get in touch with her family when she moved back to Britain at the age of 16 to pursue her singing career. My life was too frenetic and self-centred. I was appearing in shows with Cliff Richard, touring and sharing a flat with three Aussie girls. Looking back, I understand why I put my life and work first but I’m sorry now I didn’t take that opportunity to meet the family.

She’s grateful Chloe will have the family history to pass on. It’s more than just finding out how your genes are made up - it’s a way of being immortalised for future generations. I realise now it’s important to keep in touch, she adds. My mum always wanted me to visit her dad, Max Born, in Germany but I never found time.

Olivia’s distinguished grandfather fled the Nazis in 1933 but moved back to Germany in the 1950s. He died in 1970 and Olivia says: I finally made the trip before I came to Wales, to sing at a dinner to mark the 125th anniversary of his birth. Mum would have been pleased I made it at last.

Does she regret not getting to know her family? Regrets are a waste of time and energy. I live for the moment. I have this philosophy - take life as it comes because I have been through so much I know that’s the way to handle it. Be in the moment, enjoy the moment - because if you don’t, you’re missing out on life. But as I have now learned, you should always be interested in your past she concludes. It’s what makes you what you are today.

Daisy worked as a barmaid in her parents’ pub in Cardiff, where she gave birth to Brinley. He went on to get a double first in languages at Cambridge and had a successful academic career in Australia, where the family moved in 1954. Olivia, still beautiful at 59, was thrilled, amazed and humbled by her discoveries and learned a lot about her family and herself which she can pass on to her daughter Chloe, 22.

The sisters looked at family photos with her - some found by the TV researchers, others from Aerona’s albums. Olivia is reunited with her Aunt Aerona (left), 87- year-old sister of her beloved father Brinley. Right: Olivia’s grandparents, Oliver John and Daisy Newton, who married in 1909.

Coming Home, made by Yellow Duck Productions, will be broadcast on Saturday 1 March on BBC1 Wales at 6.30pm

More about the TV documentary Coming Home.