The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
An Angus snapper remembers visit by TV soap golden couple
Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan were Australia’s golden couple in the 1980s while starring in Neighbours.
They were also a couple off-screen and launched their successful music careers after the Australian soap opera turned them both into superstars.
But Kylie still managed to go unrecognised by punters when she turned up in Arbroath, where Jason was making a personal appearance at Bally’s nightclub.
Freelance photographer Wallace Ferrier will never forget the diminutive Antipodean’s brief visit in the late-1980s, which is one of the stories in his new book.
By Dawn’s Early Light contains stories from Wallace’s Arbroath beat, alongside some of his favourite tales which have made headlines across the world.
“A capacity crowd had turned up to see their idol, and I, together with local photographer Jim Ratcliffe, was hanging around the reception area waiting for him to arrive,” said Wallace.
“At this point neither Jim nor I had our cameras ready.
“We both knew we were going to get shots of Jason on stage and a few with his fans, so we didn’t see the need to have our cameras ready; why should we for what we believed would be him just walking in the door with his entourage?
“What happened next was most unexpected.
“Firstly, a few security guys, then his tour promoter, then, to my utter surprise in walked a small, pretty girl.
“It was, of course, none other than the beautiful and petite singing sensation, Kylie Minogue.”
Kylie and Jason’s onscreen romance in Neighbours had spilled over into real life but they both denied in public that they were in a relationship.
“It turned out that my only chance to photograph them close together was as they arrived that evening through the entrance to Bally’s nightclub.
“If only I had my camera ready I might have made a few pounds selling the scoop photos to newspapers.
“Kylie made sure she was a good distance away from Jason during their time in Bally’s, so there was not an opportunity for me to photograph them together.
“I got a few photographs of Jason meeting fans on stage and during this time, Kylie was seated with four local lads almost unobserved, watching her boyfriend from the back of the nightclub.”
Nightclub operator Ally Bally – of Radio Tay fame – bought Kylie a drink from the bar and at the same time, asked her to sign the disco’s visitors book, to which she replied: “Sorry, I’m having an autographfree day today”.
“To this, rather amusingly, Ally asked for his drink back ,” said Wallace.
“Once the couple had retired to the green room, Ally mentioned to the four lads who had been sitting next to Kylie: ‘ Did you know who that was you were seated next to?’
“‘No,’ said the lads, who, by this time had consumed a few drinks.
“It seemed that they had no idea they had been sitting next toKy lie Minogue.”
Wallace waited in the car park afterwards to get a picture of Kylie and Jason together but he was spotted by their security team and he was thwarted.
Also in his book there is a chapter about the Kirriemuir link to the famous movie The Italian Job and the Harrington Legionnaire coach which was last seen teetering over the edge of a cliff.
The bus became famous in the final scene of the 1969 classic starring Michael Caine, as the weight of stolen gold bars threatened to tip it over into the gorge below.
Wallace said: “This was a unique bus with a double axle and four turning wheels at the front.
“After filming was finished, the bus had its rear doors welded shut, and passenger seats were replaced.
“The bus then went back into service, mainly in Scotland, and from September 1973 to 1979, the logbook states it was purchased by James Meffan, a bus operator in Kirriemuir, who often used it for school runs.
“The James Meffan bus company eventually sold it in 1979.”
It was later bought by racing driver Archie Cromar, in Anstruther, and converted into a transporter for his Formula Ford racing car.
The bus had another two owners before it was sold to a Fife scrap dealer and broken up.
By Dawn’s Early Light also charts the life of Hollywood sweetheart Judy Garland whose greatgrandfather Charles Milne was born in Arbroath in 1829.
The book also features physician Neil Arnott from Arbroath who invented the waterbed, and Arbroath minister George Railton who helped found the first Salvation Army mission in America in 1880.
Wallace said: “The book contains quite a mix of stories, which may divide opinions and spawn more questions than answers.
“There is something in it for everyone.”
By Dawn’s Early Light is available now online.
“They had no idea they had been sitting next to Kylie Minogue