Mum says no to TV stars' romance
Young love will find a way - they say but the romance of Olivia Newton-John and lan Turpie is on a stony, uphill path.
Romantic fans will recall the sad incident of January 28 when Olivia was whisked half-way round the world.
The trip was a prize in a TV show and was to have been an occasion for joy but Olivia wasn’t smiling when the ship sailed.
Instead, she was crying her eyes out because she felt it was more important to her to stay in Australia with Ian than it was to seek fame and fortune overseas.
But her mother had other ideas Olivia had put the trip off too long.
No sooner had she arrived in London than Olivia told her friends that she was planning to return to Melbourne.
She was supposed to stay in the U.K. for a year at least and mother was growing edgy at Olivia’s persistent talk of going home.
The going was becoming heavy at their Hampstead Village flat and finally Olivia declared that she was going back Australia without her mother’s permission.
Mrs Newton-John realised that there was no further point in reasoning with her love-struck teenage daughter.
Instead, mother stated firmly that she would apply to the courts for an injunction preventing Olivia from leaving England in the face of her mother’s opposition.
Such harsh measures impressed all parties concerned and Olivia has since decided to stay in England as her mother wishes but only for the time being.
Olivia only has to wait until she is 18 when she will be free to travel hither and thither as her heart dictates.
The Big Day is September 18 and, if all goes according to plan, we can assume that after that date Olivia will abandon her London career to return to Ian.
THEIR LOVE STILL SPANS 10,000 MILES
While all this drama is being enacted in Britain, Ian is here in Melbourne, smothering his sorrow in work.
Ian is not at all happy about Mrs Newton-John’s point of view.
He seems more than pleased that Olivia will rush back to Australia because she can’t bear being away from him.
But he does add a note of caution, “We’re not planning to get married immediately Olivia comes back”.
“That’s why I can’t really understand why her mother is so frantic to keep us apart there’s nothing final about going around with a giri is there?”
Ian has been heard to say in the past that he would take time off and go to England to join Olivia if she was prevented from coming back.
But this idea is impractical because he is very tied down with work. He appears in “Time For Terry” five days a week, as well as compering “Go!!”
Even before Olivia went away they had little time for formal, organised outings.
But they made up for it during their working hours.
In the informal atmosphere of the television studios, where they worked on the same shows, Olivia and Ian found togetherness.
Photo Caption: HOLDING hands was easy for Olivia and lan when they worked together in "Time For Terry" -now 10,000 miles stand between them.