20 December: The Osmonds

On this date in 1962 The Osmonds made their debut on The Andy Williams Show. 10 thngs you might not know about the Osmonds.

1. There were nine siblings in all, eight boys and just one girl, Marie. The two eldest siblings, Virl and Tom, were never part of any of the singing groups as they were both deaf.
2. However, Virl had enough hearing to follow a rhythm and it was he who first taught his younger brothers their dance routines when they became pop stars.
3. Their father, George, was in the military and he met his wife, Olive, in 1944.
4. The first of the Osmond brood to sing in public were Alan, Wayne, Jay and Merrill, who first performed at their church singing Oh Dear Lord in Heaven, and were well received. Their parents then wondered if they could turn them into a singing group which might earn enough to buy hearing aids for the two deaf brothers.
5. Their first Hollywood audition was a failure when bandleader Lawrence Welk, who they'd gone there to meet, didn't show up. To take the lads' minds off it, George took them for a trip to Disneyland. There, they put on an impromptu performance for the Dapper Dans, a barbershop quartet who were working there. People stopped to listen, entranced by these four cute and talented kids, which led to them meeting Walt Disney himself and being offered the chance to appear on a show called Disneyland After Dark. In 1962, they appeared on the Andy Williams Show for the first time.
6. By 1975, they'd hit the big time with girls screaming at them everywhere they went and way more money than was needed to buy a couple of hearing aids. The original four had been joined by Donny and Marie, and later, the youngest brother, Jimmy.
7. Sadly, though, it would all go wrong thanks to some dodgy business partners who committed fraud and embezzlement, which resulted in the family being almost bankrupt by 1985. George refused to file for bankruptcy. Instead he sold everything they had and the Osmonds would perform at any gig they could get, although by that time, their popularity was waning. However, they persevered and managed to pay off the debts.
8. You probably know the Osmonds were Mormons, and it's normally a requirement for young Mormon men to go on missions - however, the Osmonds believed they could spread the word more effectively by carrying on with their musical careers. Their album, The Plan, was a Mormon concept album.
9. In 2007 the entire family (more than 120 of them, including all the grandchildren and great-grandchildren) planned to appear on the Oprah Winfrey show to celebrate their 50th anniversary in showbusiness. Sadly, although George Osmond was meant to appear with them, aged 90, he died a few days before the show was recorded. The family decided to go ahead with the recording as a tribute to him. The show aired on the day of his funeral.
10. In 2019 the performing Osmonds consist of original group members Merrill and Jay who perform as a duo (Alan and Wayne retired for health reasons); Donny and Marie still perform together with one of Alan's sons, David, as Donny's understudy. David is also part of a second generation group with his brothers as well as having a modest solo career.

Golden Thread

Terry Kennedy is inexplicably and inexorably drawn to the small town of Fiveswood as a place to live and work after university. He is sure he has never visited the town before, but when he arrives there, it seems oddly familiar.

Fiveswood has a rich and intriguing history. Local legends speak of giants, angels, wolves, a local Robin Hood, but most of all, a knight in golden armour. Fiveswood's history also has a dark side - mysterious deaths blamed on the plague, a ghostly black panther, and a landslide which buried the smugglers' caves.

Terry buys an apartment in The Heights, a house which has been empty for decades, since the previous owner disappeared. Now he has finally been declared dead, developers have moved in and turned it into six flats. Terry has the odd feeling he has lived in this enigmatic house before. But that is not all. Since childhood, Terry has had recurring, disturbing dreams which have been increasing in frequency so that now, he has them almost every night. To his dismay, the people from his nightmares are his new neighbours.

Except, that is, for Eleanor Millbrook. She is refreshingly unfamiliar. After Terry saves her from a mysterious attacker, they become close. However, Terry's nightmares encroach more and more on his waking life, until they lead him to a devastating discovery about who he really is.

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