The Rundown: Patti Newton cements her place as Australia's most glamorous granny

Patti Newton cemented her status as Australia’s most glamorous granny with an emotional return to the stage and a hint of more to come.

Patti Newton reminded audiences of why she’s Australia’s most glamorous granny. Picture: David Caird

Patti Newton has made an emotional return to performing following the death of her adored husband, Bert Newton, six months ago.

Patti starred as part of John Foreman’s Aussie Pops Orchestra’s Mother’s Day Concert at Hamer Hall on Sunday, appearing in the orchestra’s two shows on the day alongside David Hobson and Harrison Craig.

Patti took to the stage to pay tribute to Bert.

She performed a song called For Bert, followed by One Day At A Time, Wind Beneath My Wings and then a heartfelt rendition of Unforgettable, which was naturally dedicated to her dearly departed husband.

A large screen showed photos of Bert’s celebrated career and treasured moments from his life with Patti as she sang. It brought many in the crowd to tears.

Changing pace Patti returned later in the show to sing Edelweiss with Hobson and Craig before donning a top hat, tails, stockings and heels to perform a medley to New York.

At 77 Patti is a marvel.

She is at home on stage, is such a professional performer and is richly admired by the public. There are certainly many more staring moments to come for Australia’s most glamorous granny.

Patti Newton with her co-stars David Hobson, musical director John Foreman and Harrison Craig. Picture: David Caird

Mean girls made me a TV star

Reality TV headline magnet Jessika Power has learnt to boot the bums out her life after three years in the celebrity game.

Power made a name for herself on the 2019 season of Married At First Sight and has gone on to appear in Big Brother VIP and Celebrities Go Dating. She was recently in Melbourne as an ambassador for Celebrity Slim’s Skinny Bitch Wines.

“I have definitely learnt to save your money, because money does not always come around easily,” she said.

“I have learnt not to trust everybody around me, I have learnt to be a little bit harder and to say ‘no’ at times. I have learnt that people in your life, they come and they go and even if you think they are going to be there forever, they just aren’t and that is fine, it is OK for that to happen.”

Jessika Power says cheers to the bitches who made her famous.

She said the most important lesson was to back yourself.

“Coming off Married At First Sight I am sure people doubted me and doubted where I would be at and people threw me under the bus and threw mud on my name and now I am just looking back on them laughing; it’s like ‘Thanks bitch’,” she said.

“Now I have learnt to be more aware who is in my inner circle and who I share my secrets with.”

Power has further TV ambitions with her name linked to a proposed ‘Simple Life’ travel show.

“I would still love to do I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!,” she said.

“And I think I should get my own show now, I surely do. Somebody should just give me my own show, I am hilarious.”

Footy star too busy for love

Channel 7 footy commentator Abbey Holmes never believed she would find love online – but a brief foray into the dating apps has resulted in her finding her perfect match.

The only issue now is she is too busy to walk down the aisle.

Holmes and her partner, former AFL player, Keegan Brooksby announced their engagement in November 2020 but are yet to lock in their wedding.

“We have not organised anything wedding wise yet,” Holmes said.

“This year is pretty busy for both of us (with work and sporting commitments).

“Pretty much every weekend for the rest of the year we have something on.”

Holmes met Brooksby after a friend signed her up to Bumble.

“She signed me up while we were in the car and I was driving so I could not stop her,” she said.

“I was always adamant that I would never have any online dating apps like Tinder or Bumble, I don’t know why, I was just against it personally.”

Incredibly she found her perfect match on her first date.

“Keegan was my first ever Bumble date, so now I am their biggest advocate,” she said.

“It was one and done. He is hands down the best person I have ever met in my life.

“He is the organised to my chaos because I am a million miles an hour where he is a lot more measured, he crosses Ts and dots Is.”

Abbey Holmes and Keegan Brooksby are too busy to get married.

Gold Logie winner’s leap of faith

Gold Logie winner Rowena Wallace has revealed she is exploring the Islamic faith.

Wallace, who was named Australia’s most popular TV personality in 1984 for her work as ‘Pat the rat’ on Sons and Daughters, has faced financial and health challenges for a number of years.

However, Wallace, 74, says she is now living a happy life, thanks in part to her exploration of faith which has helped “centre” her.

“I have studied a bit of Islam and I do merge towards Islam,” Wallace told the Channel 7 Spotlight program.

“If I were going to be anything I would be a Muslim. At the moment I am just following the path of Sufism.

“A Sufi is a lover of god.

“I do try to live as a Sufi but it is not a common thing. There is not a group of Sufis in Wonthaggi where I live.

“I am where I am and I just want to be happy where I am and I am.”

Wallace said her great success as a TV villain on Sons and Daughters limited her opportunities as an actor once the show finished.

“I thought, and rightly, so that I would be typecast as a bitch,” she said.

Wallace sold two of her four Silver Logies when she hit hard times several years ago.

The Spotlight program, which rated a mere 383,000 viewers on overnight ratings data, tracked down the new owner of one of the awards, bought the award and returned it to Wallace.

Neighbours still breaking new ground

Even in its last weeks of filming, iconic Australian drama Neighbours is still breaking new ground.

Melbourne actor Oli Pizzey Stratford joins the show this week as the first wheelchair-bound cast member to have a featured role on the much-loved series.

A talented tennis player with Olympic ambitions, Pizzey-Stratford, 19, wants to be an example for others that anything is possible and you can live your dreams.

His role as Zane Wozniak, the brother of Phoebe Roberts’ character Freya, came about after Pizzey Stratford wrote to the Neighbours production two years ago.

“It was an idea that my dad and I had to reach out to Neighbours, just to present an idea that there was no representation of people with disabilities in a wheelchair on the show,” he said.

Oli Pizzey Stratford on the set of Neighbours.

“So I wrote an email to the production team saying who I was, but more the message that Neighbours has presented a cross section of society since its inception and are you looking to maybe incorporate somebody in a wheelchair.

“It was a positive response that we might consider you in the future. I thought nothing more about it and then about 20 months later we got approached by Neighbours and the rest is history.”

Pizzey Stratford, who suffered a spinal injury at birth, said the opportunity Neighbours had provided him was profound.

“I am so thankful for a show like Neighbours to take a risk, in a sense, casting someone like me who is in a wheelchair in their day to day life,” he said.

“That is hopefully going to send a message to casting directors in Australia and all over the world that this is the new way. I am in a wheelchair but I am an actor first.

“I am a professional actor and it just happens to be that I am in a wheelchair as well.

“One of my dreams is that someone sees these couple of episodes of Neighbours and sees someone like themselves on TV and believes that anything is possible.”

Pizzey Stratford’s first episode airs on May 12.