Olivia's Bid For European Title
An estimated five hundred million people will watch the Eurovision Song Contest tonight.
There are more girls than ever before competing in this year’s musical tournament at Brighton, including Olivia Newton-John, the Cambridge-born United Kingdom hope.
“I have been nervous for a long time about it, but I’m sure it will be okay and I will get through it,” she said. “Of course I am nervous, but I daren’t think about it like that. I have got, in a way, to treat it as if it were an ordinary concert.”
Irish singer Tina Reynolds is nervous, too, but not worried about being placed 13th in the running order. “Well 13 is lucky for some. isn’t it? And I am not worried about that,” she said. “I feel more sorry for Olivia having to sing second.”
Olivia and Tina both have local connections. Olivia was born at Cambridge and lived here as a child, though in 1955 she went to Australia with her parents. Tina, though born in Eire, worked for a time as a GPO telephonist in the city.
Olivia’s mother, Mrs. Irene Newton-John, still lives at Cambridge. She is at Brighton for her daughter’s big night. “It is terribly exciting,” she said “Olivia really is an artist now. I don’t think I can be completely objective about it, but I think she has got a very good chance of winning.”
But she confessed: “I didn’t really like that song very much at first, but it’s growing on me now. You get used to it.”
Olivia was more non-committal about “Long Live Love.” “I think the song is the right one for the contest, but I wouldn’t like to comment on whether it is my favourite,” she said with a laugh. “As for winning, well I think everybody has a good chance. At the moment everybody is tipping the Dutch to win.”
Tina says “Cross Your Heart,” her song for Europe, was her favourite all along from the six Irish TV viewers had to choose from. “I could not really say that until they had picked it, though,” she said. “It got 16,000 votes and one of the others only got 500. It is pretty clear it is the song they wanted and I am glad it is my favourite, too.” The song is currently top of the Irish charts. “I would love to win. It would be a great honour for me and for my country. It is an absolute thrill to picked at all.” A bevy of her relations are at Brighton: two sisters from Cambridge, a brother from Birmingham, her father from Ireland and her husband, mother and father-in-law.
By John Kelleher