The Professor's bright daughters

thanks to Kay

Once upon a time in England, a Professor Newton-John and his wife had two daughters. First there was Rona and then there was Olivia. The family came to Australia when Olivia was five.

In showbiz today, first there's Olivia and then there's Rona. Olivia, pretty enough to stop the traffic, unpretentious, unspoiled, is shining very bright in the pop star galaxy, where she landed via Johnny O'Keefe's one time TV show Sing, Sing, Sing umpteen years ago, hard work, Bandstand and IMT. Five years ago she went back to England after a disaster when the Toomorrow group she was with (said to be the most promoted group since the Monkees) flopped, Olivia made it afresh. Her single Bob Dylan's If Not For You is well up the charts all around the world.

Rona is an actress, one of those cameo players you see in movies, her most famous cameo to date being in Peter O'Toole's The Same Skin. Her ambition isn't stardom, just one really good role.

Rona's Australian role this visit is to chaperon to Olivia, who starred in TCN9's 15th birthday show. She is twice married and has three children, Fiona 11, Brett 10 and Caroline 9.

Olivia has been engaged to former Shadow Bruce Welch for 2 and a half years. They both believe in marriage, but haven;t got around to the ceremony yet.

Big excitement for the two girls was spending some time with their father Brin Newton-John, now Vice Chancellor of Newcastle (NSW) University and well remembered by viewers as compere of ABC's early TV show Any Questions