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ONE MORE THING... 

Derby Telegraph17 Aug 2022 

 Olivia NewtonJohn – forever Sandy IT’S funny how some celebrity deaths affect us more than others. There are those of whom you think ‘Aren’t they already dead?’ so little impact did they have on your life. And then there are others that hit you hard. Olivia Newton-John belongs in the latter camp – at least to women of my generation who filled their Facebook timelines with heartfelt expressions of sadness at the news of her death. The reason? Well, despite the passage of time she always remained Sandy from Grease and in being Sandy she was also us. For girls everywhere – certainly my 11-year-old self – Sandy was the girl we wanted to be. In that shapeless nightie she reflected our uncertainty, lack of confidence and shyness. We too were navigating boys friendships, and our future. And then she emerged, just as we hoped we would, transformed in the final scene as a Lycra-clad sex goddess. She bagged the man of all our dreams – John Travolta – and then headed off to a happy ever after. Of course we all grew up, grew older. Happy ever afters didn’t happen for everyone, but Grease and its female star stayed with us, a fixed point in time when everything seemed possible.

Susan Lee

 

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Olivia Newton-John · If Not For You