Beyoncé's mum offers rare insights into famous family
New books sampled this week include a memoir by Beyoncé's mum and He Would Never, the new novel by Holly Wainwright.
Tina Knowles. Hachette. $34.99.
Tina Knowles is Beyoncé's mum. In this memoir, the fashion designer recounts the family history and upbringing of the pop music megastar (and her singer sister Solange). Knowles offers rare insights into her famously private daughter's early life of school shyness and the discovery of her talent. She also writes about raising "bonus" daughter Kelly Rowland, as she and the other members of chart-topping '90s girl group Destiny's Child juggled fame and stardom at a young age. Billed as a celebration of "the world-changing power of black motherhood", the book has attracted praise from the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama.
Raina MacIntyre. NewSouth Books. $34.99.
"If there was a vaccine against heart attacks, would you take it?" asks world-leading epidemiologist Raina MacIntyre, before explaining that the answer is right in front of us. Vaccines that will help reduce the chances of cardiac issues already exist. Flu, shingles and (surprise!) COVID shots are among them. MacIntyre explains how vaccines changed the world, and how ignorance and complacency threaten to change it back. Among the important messages: COVID isn't over. If we don't act it will be with us for decades. (If you can't be bothered getting a flu jab, maybe start with the chapter on influenza.)
Damon Young. Scribe. $32.99.
Just how much is there to consider, analyse and write about the simple gesture involved in asking for a restaurant bill? Quite a lot, as it turns out, and it is fascinating. You know the signal: you pretend to hold a pen and twirl your wrist in the waiter's direction. What then, can be said about the "shush" gesture, or a shrug, or the "unsanitary and unnecessary ritual of the handshake" (ick warning)? Philosopher Damon Young goes deep into 13 gestures, drawing from Degas to Dr Who. Yes, it is about gestures, but this book is really about much more.
Phil Craig. Hodder & Stoughton. $34.99.
The final book in Phil Craig's Finest Hour trilogy examines how the closing chapters of World War II played out for Britain and its empire. In Europe, Bergen-Belsen concentration camp was being liberated. In India, nationalists faced a choice between the Raj and the Axis. In Borneo, Australian soldiers are dropped behind enemy lines, but sadly not to rescue Australian prisoners from the infamous Sandakan POW camp. Perhaps most astonishingly, in Vietnam, where Ho Chi Minh was trying to curry favour with the US, the British used freed Japanese prisoners to attack his army and return Saigon to French control.
Gareth Ward & Louise Ward. Penguin. $34.99.
In 2013, six years after relocating to Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, former British police officers Gareth and Louise Ward bought a local bookshop that was closing down. They went against everyone's advice, including the shop's owner, but built the business back and opened a second store. The heroes of their Bookshop Detectives cosy crime mysteries are the husband-and-wife owners of the Sherlock Tomes bookshop in a tiny NZ town. The Wards follow their 2024 debut, Dead Girl Gone, with Tea and Cake and Death, in which book-selling sleuths Garth and Eloise Sherlock investigate deadly poisonings ahead of their annual Battle of the Book Clubs fundraiser.
Cassie Hamer. HarperCollins. $14.99.
For her fourth suburban noir since her 2020 debut After The Party, Sydney author Cassie Hamer adds misery, mystery and mayhem to the usual festering family angst of Christmas as Maz Antonio hosts her first big family gathering after two years in jail. To atone for her terrible mistakes and show their guests she can maintain her sobriety, Maz wants the lunch to be perfect for her husband and children. But who is the man impulsively invited along by her mum? Is he really a stranger or is he connected to the past Maz is so desperate to put behind her?
Jacqueline Maley. 4th Estate. $34.99.
The second novel by Nine newspapers columnist Jacqueline Maley (after 2021's The Truth About Her) follows half-sisters and their unreliable mother as they reconcile with the family ties that bind them and the hidden trauma that threatens to tear them apart. Lara is a model living carefree in France. Matilda is a chef in a fancy Sydney restaurant who prefers her life solitary and self-contained. Lara is 10 years younger than Matilda, but they are close - until a visit home by Lara and the return of her long-absent, erratic father trying to make amends for his past misdeeds, blows up Matilda's buttoned-down life.
Holly Wainwright. Pan MacMillan. $34.99.
The fifth novel by Mamamia podcaster Holly Wainwright is inspired by her family's long-standing annual camping holidays with a bunch of other families, and the diverse perspectives and strong bonds of friendship shared by the women. For her fiction, the NSW South Coast-based author follows five women as they gather with their families for their traditional summer camping holiday at Green River. They all met at a mother's group 14 years earlier. Liss and Lachy Short are still the gang's golden couple. But is Liss prepared to listen to her second family of truth-tellers about the kind of toxic man her husband really is?
Love books? Us too! Looking for more reads and recommendations? Browse our books page and bookmark the page so you can find our latest book reviews and articles with ease.
New books sampled this week include a memoir by Beyoncé's mum and He Would Never, the new novel by Holly Wainwright.
Tina Knowles. Hachette. $34.99.
Tina Knowles is Beyoncé's mum. In this memoir, the fashion designer recounts the family history and upbringing of the pop music megastar (and her singer sister Solange). Knowles offers rare insights into her famously private daughter's early life of school shyness and the discovery of her talent. She also writes about raising "bonus" daughter Kelly Rowland, as she and the other members of chart-topping '90s girl group Destiny's Child juggled fame and stardom at a young age. Billed as a celebration of "the world-changing power of black motherhood", the book has attracted praise from the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama.
Raina MacIntyre. NewSouth Books. $34.99.
"If there was a vaccine against heart attacks, would you take it?" asks world-leading epidemiologist Raina MacIntyre, before explaining that the answer is right in front of us. Vaccines that will help reduce the chances of cardiac issues already exist. Flu, shingles and (surprise!) COVID shots are among them. MacIntyre explains how vaccines changed the world, and how ignorance and complacency threaten to change it back. Among the important messages: COVID isn't over. If we don't act it will be with us for decades. (If you can't be bothered getting a flu jab, maybe start with the chapter on influenza.)
Damon Young. Scribe. $32.99.
Just how much is there to consider, analyse and write about the simple gesture involved in asking for a restaurant bill? Quite a lot, as it turns out, and it is fascinating. You know the signal: you pretend to hold a pen and twirl your wrist in the waiter's direction. What then, can be said about the "shush" gesture, or a shrug, or the "unsanitary and unnecessary ritual of the handshake" (ick warning)? Philosopher Damon Young goes deep into 13 gestures, drawing from Degas to Dr Who. Yes, it is about gestures, but this book is really about much more.
Phil Craig. Hodder & Stoughton. $34.99.
The final book in Phil Craig's Finest Hour trilogy examines how the closing chapters of World War II played out for Britain and its empire. In Europe, Bergen-Belsen concentration camp was being liberated. In India, nationalists faced a choice between the Raj and the Axis. In Borneo, Australian soldiers are dropped behind enemy lines, but sadly not to rescue Australian prisoners from the infamous Sandakan POW camp. Perhaps most astonishingly, in Vietnam, where Ho Chi Minh was trying to curry favour with the US, the British used freed Japanese prisoners to attack his army and return Saigon to French control.
Gareth Ward & Louise Ward. Penguin. $34.99.
In 2013, six years after relocating to Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, former British police officers Gareth and Louise Ward bought a local bookshop that was closing down. They went against everyone's advice, including the shop's owner, but built the business back and opened a second store. The heroes of their Bookshop Detectives cosy crime mysteries are the husband-and-wife owners of the Sherlock Tomes bookshop in a tiny NZ town. The Wards follow their 2024 debut, Dead Girl Gone, with Tea and Cake and Death, in which book-selling sleuths Garth and Eloise Sherlock investigate deadly poisonings ahead of their annual Battle of the Book Clubs fundraiser.
Cassie Hamer. HarperCollins. $14.99.
For her fourth suburban noir since her 2020 debut After The Party, Sydney author Cassie Hamer adds misery, mystery and mayhem to the usual festering family angst of Christmas as Maz Antonio hosts her first big family gathering after two years in jail. To atone for her terrible mistakes and show their guests she can maintain her sobriety, Maz wants the lunch to be perfect for her husband and children. But who is the man impulsively invited along by her mum? Is he really a stranger or is he connected to the past Maz is so desperate to put behind her?
Jacqueline Maley. 4th Estate. $34.99.
The second novel by Nine newspapers columnist Jacqueline Maley (after 2021's The Truth About Her) follows half-sisters and their unreliable mother as they reconcile with the family ties that bind them and the hidden trauma that threatens to tear them apart. Lara is a model living carefree in France. Matilda is a chef in a fancy Sydney restaurant who prefers her life solitary and self-contained. Lara is 10 years younger than Matilda, but they are close - until a visit home by Lara and the return of her long-absent, erratic father trying to make amends for his past misdeeds, blows up Matilda's buttoned-down life.
Holly Wainwright. Pan MacMillan. $34.99.
The fifth novel by Mamamia podcaster Holly Wainwright is inspired by her family's long-standing annual camping holidays with a bunch of other families, and the diverse perspectives and strong bonds of friendship shared by the women. For her fiction, the NSW South Coast-based author follows five women as they gather with their families for their traditional summer camping holiday at Green River. They all met at a mother's group 14 years earlier. Liss and Lachy Short are still the gang's golden couple. But is Liss prepared to listen to her second family of truth-tellers about the kind of toxic man her husband really is?
Love books? Us too! Looking for more reads and recommendations? Browse our books page and bookmark the page so you can find our latest book reviews and articles with ease.
New books sampled this week include a memoir by Beyoncé's mum and He Would Never, the new novel by Holly Wainwright.
Tina Knowles. Hachette. $34.99.
Tina Knowles is Beyoncé's mum. In this memoir, the fashion designer recounts the family history and upbringing of the pop music megastar (and her singer sister Solange). Knowles offers rare insights into her famously private daughter's early life of school shyness and the discovery of her talent. She also writes about raising "bonus" daughter Kelly Rowland, as she and the other members of chart-topping '90s girl group Destiny's Child juggled fame and stardom at a young age. Billed as a celebration of "the world-changing power of black motherhood", the book has attracted praise from the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama.
Raina MacIntyre. NewSouth Books. $34.99.
"If there was a vaccine against heart attacks, would you take it?" asks world-leading epidemiologist Raina MacIntyre, before explaining that the answer is right in front of us. Vaccines that will help reduce the chances of cardiac issues already exist. Flu, shingles and (surprise!) COVID shots are among them. MacIntyre explains how vaccines changed the world, and how ignorance and complacency threaten to change it back. Among the important messages: COVID isn't over. If we don't act it will be with us for decades. (If you can't be bothered getting a flu jab, maybe start with the chapter on influenza.)
Damon Young. Scribe. $32.99.
Just how much is there to consider, analyse and write about the simple gesture involved in asking for a restaurant bill? Quite a lot, as it turns out, and it is fascinating. You know the signal: you pretend to hold a pen and twirl your wrist in the waiter's direction. What then, can be said about the "shush" gesture, or a shrug, or the "unsanitary and unnecessary ritual of the handshake" (ick warning)? Philosopher Damon Young goes deep into 13 gestures, drawing from Degas to Dr Who. Yes, it is about gestures, but this book is really about much more.
Phil Craig. Hodder & Stoughton. $34.99.
The final book in Phil Craig's Finest Hour trilogy examines how the closing chapters of World War II played out for Britain and its empire. In Europe, Bergen-Belsen concentration camp was being liberated. In India, nationalists faced a choice between the Raj and the Axis. In Borneo, Australian soldiers are dropped behind enemy lines, but sadly not to rescue Australian prisoners from the infamous Sandakan POW camp. Perhaps most astonishingly, in Vietnam, where Ho Chi Minh was trying to curry favour with the US, the British used freed Japanese prisoners to attack his army and return Saigon to French control.
Gareth Ward & Louise Ward. Penguin. $34.99.
In 2013, six years after relocating to Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, former British police officers Gareth and Louise Ward bought a local bookshop that was closing down. They went against everyone's advice, including the shop's owner, but built the business back and opened a second store. The heroes of their Bookshop Detectives cosy crime mysteries are the husband-and-wife owners of the Sherlock Tomes bookshop in a tiny NZ town. The Wards follow their 2024 debut, Dead Girl Gone, with Tea and Cake and Death, in which book-selling sleuths Garth and Eloise Sherlock investigate deadly poisonings ahead of their annual Battle of the Book Clubs fundraiser.
Cassie Hamer. HarperCollins. $14.99.
For her fourth suburban noir since her 2020 debut After The Party, Sydney author Cassie Hamer adds misery, mystery and mayhem to the usual festering family angst of Christmas as Maz Antonio hosts her first big family gathering after two years in jail. To atone for her terrible mistakes and show their guests she can maintain her sobriety, Maz wants the lunch to be perfect for her husband and children. But who is the man impulsively invited along by her mum? Is he really a stranger or is he connected to the past Maz is so desperate to put behind her?
Jacqueline Maley. 4th Estate. $34.99.
The second novel by Nine newspapers columnist Jacqueline Maley (after 2021's The Truth About Her) follows half-sisters and their unreliable mother as they reconcile with the family ties that bind them and the hidden trauma that threatens to tear them apart. Lara is a model living carefree in France. Matilda is a chef in a fancy Sydney restaurant who prefers her life solitary and self-contained. Lara is 10 years younger than Matilda, but they are close - until a visit home by Lara and the return of her long-absent, erratic father trying to make amends for his past misdeeds, blows up Matilda's buttoned-down life.
Holly Wainwright. Pan MacMillan. $34.99.
The fifth novel by Mamamia podcaster Holly Wainwright is inspired by her family's long-standing annual camping holidays with a bunch of other families, and the diverse perspectives and strong bonds of friendship shared by the women. For her fiction, the NSW South Coast-based author follows five women as they gather with their families for their traditional summer camping holiday at Green River. They all met at a mother's group 14 years earlier. Liss and Lachy Short are still the gang's golden couple. But is Liss prepared to listen to her second family of truth-tellers about the kind of toxic man her husband really is?
Love books? Us too! Looking for more reads and recommendations? Browse our books page and bookmark the page so you can find our latest book reviews and articles with ease.
New books sampled this week include a memoir by Beyoncé's mum and He Would Never, the new novel by Holly Wainwright.
Tina Knowles. Hachette. $34.99.
Tina Knowles is Beyoncé's mum. In this memoir, the fashion designer recounts the family history and upbringing of the pop music megastar (and her singer sister Solange). Knowles offers rare insights into her famously private daughter's early life of school shyness and the discovery of her talent. She also writes about raising "bonus" daughter Kelly Rowland, as she and the other members of chart-topping '90s girl group Destiny's Child juggled fame and stardom at a young age. Billed as a celebration of "the world-changing power of black motherhood", the book has attracted praise from the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama.
Raina MacIntyre. NewSouth Books. $34.99.
"If there was a vaccine against heart attacks, would you take it?" asks world-leading epidemiologist Raina MacIntyre, before explaining that the answer is right in front of us. Vaccines that will help reduce the chances of cardiac issues already exist. Flu, shingles and (surprise!) COVID shots are among them. MacIntyre explains how vaccines changed the world, and how ignorance and complacency threaten to change it back. Among the important messages: COVID isn't over. If we don't act it will be with us for decades. (If you can't be bothered getting a flu jab, maybe start with the chapter on influenza.)
Damon Young. Scribe. $32.99.
Just how much is there to consider, analyse and write about the simple gesture involved in asking for a restaurant bill? Quite a lot, as it turns out, and it is fascinating. You know the signal: you pretend to hold a pen and twirl your wrist in the waiter's direction. What then, can be said about the "shush" gesture, or a shrug, or the "unsanitary and unnecessary ritual of the handshake" (ick warning)? Philosopher Damon Young goes deep into 13 gestures, drawing from Degas to Dr Who. Yes, it is about gestures, but this book is really about much more.
Phil Craig. Hodder & Stoughton. $34.99.
The final book in Phil Craig's Finest Hour trilogy examines how the closing chapters of World War II played out for Britain and its empire. In Europe, Bergen-Belsen concentration camp was being liberated. In India, nationalists faced a choice between the Raj and the Axis. In Borneo, Australian soldiers are dropped behind enemy lines, but sadly not to rescue Australian prisoners from the infamous Sandakan POW camp. Perhaps most astonishingly, in Vietnam, where Ho Chi Minh was trying to curry favour with the US, the British used freed Japanese prisoners to attack his army and return Saigon to French control.
Gareth Ward & Louise Ward. Penguin. $34.99.
In 2013, six years after relocating to Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, former British police officers Gareth and Louise Ward bought a local bookshop that was closing down. They went against everyone's advice, including the shop's owner, but built the business back and opened a second store. The heroes of their Bookshop Detectives cosy crime mysteries are the husband-and-wife owners of the Sherlock Tomes bookshop in a tiny NZ town. The Wards follow their 2024 debut, Dead Girl Gone, with Tea and Cake and Death, in which book-selling sleuths Garth and Eloise Sherlock investigate deadly poisonings ahead of their annual Battle of the Book Clubs fundraiser.
Cassie Hamer. HarperCollins. $14.99.
For her fourth suburban noir since her 2020 debut After The Party, Sydney author Cassie Hamer adds misery, mystery and mayhem to the usual festering family angst of Christmas as Maz Antonio hosts her first big family gathering after two years in jail. To atone for her terrible mistakes and show their guests she can maintain her sobriety, Maz wants the lunch to be perfect for her husband and children. But who is the man impulsively invited along by her mum? Is he really a stranger or is he connected to the past Maz is so desperate to put behind her?
Jacqueline Maley. 4th Estate. $34.99.
The second novel by Nine newspapers columnist Jacqueline Maley (after 2021's The Truth About Her) follows half-sisters and their unreliable mother as they reconcile with the family ties that bind them and the hidden trauma that threatens to tear them apart. Lara is a model living carefree in France. Matilda is a chef in a fancy Sydney restaurant who prefers her life solitary and self-contained. Lara is 10 years younger than Matilda, but they are close - until a visit home by Lara and the return of her long-absent, erratic father trying to make amends for his past misdeeds, blows up Matilda's buttoned-down life.
Holly Wainwright. Pan MacMillan. $34.99.
The fifth novel by Mamamia podcaster Holly Wainwright is inspired by her family's long-standing annual camping holidays with a bunch of other families, and the diverse perspectives and strong bonds of friendship shared by the women. For her fiction, the NSW South Coast-based author follows five women as they gather with their families for their traditional summer camping holiday at Green River. They all met at a mother's group 14 years earlier. Liss and Lachy Short are still the gang's golden couple. But is Liss prepared to listen to her second family of truth-tellers about the kind of toxic man her husband really is?
Love books? Us too! Looking for more reads and recommendations? Browse our books page and bookmark the page so you can find our latest book reviews and articles with ease.
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Perth Now
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- Perth Now
Babyshambles guitarist Patrick Walden dies aged 46
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The Age
6 hours ago
- The Age
Hey, Torvill and Dean, remember the time I danced with you?
Fitz: What is it? Torvill: Bolero is obviously a very special routine because it opened the door for the future, and we wouldn't still be doing what we're doing without that. Fitz: So let's go back to the romance one! The personal chemistry and physical intimacy that you two display on ice as you dance is so wonderful; it dinkum is amazing that you can do it without ever having been a couple. Was there never a time, Chris, when you said to Jayne, surely, 'Let's go and see a film Saturday night?' And she said, 'No, forget it.' Dean: No, never like that. We have spent a lot of time together, seeing movies, going for drinks, and the theatre, all of those things. And of course, we've been together on many long tours, like when we were touring Australia for the first time. We were meant to be coming for just two weeks, but ended up staying for three months doing shows, and then stayed a further nine months putting a show together. So we were in Sydney area for almost a year, and we made lots of friends. Fitz: [ Painfully persisting ] So never in that year, two young English athletes a long way from home, did you exchange smouldering looks over your Vegemite on toast ... Torvill: No, our main focus was getting the work done. You know, we had just turned professional, and for us, it was an exciting time in that we weren't competing anymore and we didn't have any rules and regulations of competition. So, in fact, you know, we were free to be more creative, which is something that we've always enjoyed. Fitz: What about blues then? There must have come a time over the last 45 years when you two were dancing, when Chris lifted you up, Jayne, so you could do a twirly gig and the booger didn't catch you properly? Surely, there must have been times where, to use the Australian expression, you came an absolute cropper, occasioning strong words? Torvill: No. Lucky for us, we never did have any major falls in competition, which is what counts. Falls in training, you accept. But we trained so hard that to be ready for anything, that we didn't really make any mistakes. So, no 'blues'. Fitz: Moving on! By some reckoning, the pop group ABBA was said to be a bigger success in Australia, even than in Sweden. There was something about ABBA that Australia, more than pretty much any other country, loved. Is it possible that the same applies to you two, that Australia loves Torvill and Dean more than even Britain loves Torvill and Dean, and that we loved you more than anywhere else on Earth. Dean: Maybe. When we first came to Australia, it was such a surprise for us to be so welcomed. The Australian promoter had pre-booked the Russian Olympic figure-skating team, thinking that they would win everything at the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics, and they didn't. We did. And so the promoter said, 'We've got to get those bloody Poms down here.' And so within a very short time, somebody came over to see us and gave us a contract, and we came down to Australia and we were adored. I mean, they tell the story of when the tickets first went on sale, that the line instantly formed up right round the Sydney Entertainment Centre. Fitz: Which is very odd, yes? Because in Sydney, we're surfers, netballers, cricketers, footballers, but not really, as a people, ice skaters – with only a rink or two open on a good day? Dean: Yeah, I think what happened, Channel Nine were the host broadcasters at the Olympics, and we became very popular because they gave us a lot of air time. And we became the base of promoting the Winter Olympics in Australia. And, there were also a lot of British expats who took to us, right? Fitz: Whatever else, our love affair with you has been enduring. We also have a saying that a person has had 'more comebacks than Dame Nellie Melba', lately replaced by 'more farewell tours than Johnny Farnham'. Whoever, with you two, came up with the title for your tour, Our Last Dance, has to be commended, because it captures the imagination. But seriously, seriously, when you perform your last dance in Sydney [at Qudos on Sunday afternoon], when you come off the ice, is that really going to be it for you two? Your last dance? Dean: It will certainly be our last performance skating in Australia. But then we go back to Nottingham, our hometown, and we actually do four performances there, and then on the last day, that will be our last skating performance, live skating performance, that we will do. You know, we've been skating together now for 50 years, and we think that that's a good round number to sort of call it a day from the performing side. And the body is ready to say it's time as well. Fitz: But don't you think that five years from now, one of you might say, 'I'm in your town, I'm going to put on a red wig. You put on a blonde one, and I'll see you down at the rink, and just one last time in the moonlight, let's dance?' Torvill: It's not to say that we won't ever skate on the ice together, but we won't actually be performing together. So we may be together like choreographing or teaching somebody. We'll do other things together, but just not performing. This is it. Fitz: Chris? Don't you think that you might just do it one more time in the moonlight, when you're 80, one more time to capture the magic, one more time without anybody knowing, just the two of you? Dean: [ Thoughtfully ] I'm not saying that we won't do that ... but it's not something that we would show off to anybody ... It would be personal. Fitz: Bingo! Now, without being too mealy-mouthed about it, your dancing ability on ice must be comparable, in terms of how much it's celebrated, with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Did you two ever watch footage of their dancing and swoon? T & D: Yes! Dean: They were very much a part of our viewing and we took a lot from them in their style and the movement and their performance quality. Yeah, absolutely, they were our idols. Fitz: You mentioned that you two have been doing it for 50 years. That means – dot three, carry one, subtract two – you must have started in the mid-70s. How much have your physical abilities waned? Are there many things you used to be able to do, that you simply cannot do now? Torvill: There are things that have got harder as we got older, and we're no longer 25, but we still feel that we can put on a show that we're happy with. And we've put it together with some amazing [younger] skaters from around the world. So we're really excited by the show, and the show itself tells a story, our story, right from the beginning, up until now. Loading Fitz: When Mick Jagger was 23 years old, he said, 'I hope I'm not still singing Can't Get No Satisfaction when I'm 30.' Could you two have conceived that you'd still be going 50 years later? And would you have been thrilled? Torvill: No and yes. We would never have imagined it would have been possible. Back then, when skaters turned professional, they would maybe do two years, three years in a professional show, and then, you know, sort of maybe go into teaching or just retire anyway. We've just been so lucky, with the way things happened for us that we were able to create several different tours, and then go back to the Olympics in '94 because that became a possibility, and that extended our professional careers. Dean: And then, in more recent times, television people came and said, would we be interested in teaching celebrities to skate? And that's when Dancing On Ice was born. And that extended us, too.
Sydney Morning Herald
6 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Hey, Torvill and Dean, remember the time I danced with you?
Fitz: What is it? Torvill: Bolero is obviously a very special routine because it opened the door for the future, and we wouldn't still be doing what we're doing without that. Fitz: So let's go back to the romance one! The personal chemistry and physical intimacy that you two display on ice as you dance is so wonderful; it dinkum is amazing that you can do it without ever having been a couple. Was there never a time, Chris, when you said to Jayne, surely, 'Let's go and see a film Saturday night?' And she said, 'No, forget it.' Dean: No, never like that. We have spent a lot of time together, seeing movies, going for drinks, and the theatre, all of those things. And of course, we've been together on many long tours, like when we were touring Australia for the first time. We were meant to be coming for just two weeks, but ended up staying for three months doing shows, and then stayed a further nine months putting a show together. So we were in Sydney area for almost a year, and we made lots of friends. Fitz: [ Painfully persisting ] So never in that year, two young English athletes a long way from home, did you exchange smouldering looks over your Vegemite on toast ... Torvill: No, our main focus was getting the work done. You know, we had just turned professional, and for us, it was an exciting time in that we weren't competing anymore and we didn't have any rules and regulations of competition. So, in fact, you know, we were free to be more creative, which is something that we've always enjoyed. Fitz: What about blues then? There must have come a time over the last 45 years when you two were dancing, when Chris lifted you up, Jayne, so you could do a twirly gig and the booger didn't catch you properly? Surely, there must have been times where, to use the Australian expression, you came an absolute cropper, occasioning strong words? Torvill: No. Lucky for us, we never did have any major falls in competition, which is what counts. Falls in training, you accept. But we trained so hard that to be ready for anything, that we didn't really make any mistakes. So, no 'blues'. Fitz: Moving on! By some reckoning, the pop group ABBA was said to be a bigger success in Australia, even than in Sweden. There was something about ABBA that Australia, more than pretty much any other country, loved. Is it possible that the same applies to you two, that Australia loves Torvill and Dean more than even Britain loves Torvill and Dean, and that we loved you more than anywhere else on Earth. Dean: Maybe. When we first came to Australia, it was such a surprise for us to be so welcomed. The Australian promoter had pre-booked the Russian Olympic figure-skating team, thinking that they would win everything at the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics, and they didn't. We did. And so the promoter said, 'We've got to get those bloody Poms down here.' And so within a very short time, somebody came over to see us and gave us a contract, and we came down to Australia and we were adored. I mean, they tell the story of when the tickets first went on sale, that the line instantly formed up right round the Sydney Entertainment Centre. Fitz: Which is very odd, yes? Because in Sydney, we're surfers, netballers, cricketers, footballers, but not really, as a people, ice skaters – with only a rink or two open on a good day? Dean: Yeah, I think what happened, Channel Nine were the host broadcasters at the Olympics, and we became very popular because they gave us a lot of air time. And we became the base of promoting the Winter Olympics in Australia. And, there were also a lot of British expats who took to us, right? Fitz: Whatever else, our love affair with you has been enduring. We also have a saying that a person has had 'more comebacks than Dame Nellie Melba', lately replaced by 'more farewell tours than Johnny Farnham'. Whoever, with you two, came up with the title for your tour, Our Last Dance, has to be commended, because it captures the imagination. But seriously, seriously, when you perform your last dance in Sydney [at Qudos on Sunday afternoon], when you come off the ice, is that really going to be it for you two? Your last dance? Dean: It will certainly be our last performance skating in Australia. But then we go back to Nottingham, our hometown, and we actually do four performances there, and then on the last day, that will be our last skating performance, live skating performance, that we will do. You know, we've been skating together now for 50 years, and we think that that's a good round number to sort of call it a day from the performing side. And the body is ready to say it's time as well. Fitz: But don't you think that five years from now, one of you might say, 'I'm in your town, I'm going to put on a red wig. You put on a blonde one, and I'll see you down at the rink, and just one last time in the moonlight, let's dance?' Torvill: It's not to say that we won't ever skate on the ice together, but we won't actually be performing together. So we may be together like choreographing or teaching somebody. We'll do other things together, but just not performing. This is it. Fitz: Chris? Don't you think that you might just do it one more time in the moonlight, when you're 80, one more time to capture the magic, one more time without anybody knowing, just the two of you? Dean: [ Thoughtfully ] I'm not saying that we won't do that ... but it's not something that we would show off to anybody ... It would be personal. Fitz: Bingo! Now, without being too mealy-mouthed about it, your dancing ability on ice must be comparable, in terms of how much it's celebrated, with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Did you two ever watch footage of their dancing and swoon? T & D: Yes! Dean: They were very much a part of our viewing and we took a lot from them in their style and the movement and their performance quality. Yeah, absolutely, they were our idols. Fitz: You mentioned that you two have been doing it for 50 years. That means – dot three, carry one, subtract two – you must have started in the mid-70s. How much have your physical abilities waned? Are there many things you used to be able to do, that you simply cannot do now? Torvill: There are things that have got harder as we got older, and we're no longer 25, but we still feel that we can put on a show that we're happy with. And we've put it together with some amazing [younger] skaters from around the world. So we're really excited by the show, and the show itself tells a story, our story, right from the beginning, up until now. Loading Fitz: When Mick Jagger was 23 years old, he said, 'I hope I'm not still singing Can't Get No Satisfaction when I'm 30.' Could you two have conceived that you'd still be going 50 years later? And would you have been thrilled? Torvill: No and yes. We would never have imagined it would have been possible. Back then, when skaters turned professional, they would maybe do two years, three years in a professional show, and then, you know, sort of maybe go into teaching or just retire anyway. We've just been so lucky, with the way things happened for us that we were able to create several different tours, and then go back to the Olympics in '94 because that became a possibility, and that extended our professional careers. Dean: And then, in more recent times, television people came and said, would we be interested in teaching celebrities to skate? And that's when Dancing On Ice was born. And that extended us, too.
