Lots of love as Olivia's memories go under hammer - Daily Express

Auction of Grease star's memorabilia set to make thousands for her cancer charity

By Marc Baker

FANS of Olivia Newton-John remain hopelessly devoted to the star four years after her death, lodging bids seven times over the estimate for personal mementos that are going under the hammer today.

Seven years have passed since the leather jacket and skin-tight trousers she wore as Sandy Olson to dance with John Travolta's Danny Zuko in the 1978 film Grease made £314,000 at auction.

Now the late star's husband, John Easterling, has sold The Indian Way estate on the Santa Ynez River in California, where she spent her final days, for £6 million and is putting 209 items - ranging from signed photos to her clothes under the hammer in LA.

Olivia died from breast cancer on August 8, 2022 and some of the sale proceeds will go to the Olivia Newton- John Foundation, which sponsors research into plant medicine.

Film producer John, who married Olivia following a whirlwind romance in 2008, said. Olivia and I made many wonderful memories at our home in Florida and the ranch in California.

I can see a new family having great nature adventures and relishing the life experience.

At today's sale, hosted by Julien's Auctions, the star lot is a certificate Olivia, who was born in Cambridge, received when she was awarded an honorary OBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 1978, signed Elizabeth R, which is expected to fetch up to £1,500.

Spokeswoman Mozell Miley-Bailey said: Normally a certificate of this kind would mention the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland first. But Great Britain and Northern Ireland have gone and Australia stands in their place.

Olivia was awarded her OBE for services to the performing arts in Australia and overseas. Her address, as recorded by The Crown, is Los Angeles.

Olivia, a woman born in England, claimed by Australia, living in California, was honoured by the British monarch on the recommendation of a government in Canberra, and the paperwork was posted an American address. Olivia's OBE in 1978 celebrated a phenomenal year, when Grease, which grossed £250m, opened in cinemas and two hit singles, You're the One That 1 Want and Summer Nights, topped British charts for 16 weeks.

SHE received her OBE the following year at Buckingham Palace, and in the 2020 New Year Honours she became a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to charity, cancer research and entertainment.

The auction also includes clothes by her favourite Australian designer, Camilla Hanks, including a jacket, the T-shirt she wore at her last gig in 2020, and a kimono worn a year before her death, which expected to fetch £450.

A 1975 custom-made gold record award for her 1975 album Clearly Love is also up for grabs. Her sewing box has an estimate of £200, and a heart-shaped perfume travel flask by Tiffany & Co is listed at £450.

A collection of photos depicting her childhood has received bids of £1,100, against a £400 estimate. Two signed Grease posters had a guide price of £500 but bids have reached £2,500 so far. A batch of collectors' cards, depicting Grease stars, has attracted a bid of £750, 20 times the £35 estimate.

Mozell said even before becoming a star, Olivia had a fascinating back story. She said: Her father, Brinley Newton-John, was a Welsh academic who had served as an M15 officer attached to the Enigma project at Bletchley Park, Her mother, Irene, had come to Britain from Germany in 1933 with a family fleeing the Nazi regime. Irene's father was a physicist whose work quantum mechanics won a Nobel Prize.

IN 1954, when Olivia was five, her father was appointed Master of Ormond College at Melbourne University.

Olivia left school early, won a talent contest, and collected the prize a trip to London. She sailed to England in 1964, still in her teens, and became one of the world's most famous women.

Visit www.juliensauction.com