Mark Lester of "Oliver!" fame resurfaces ...

Did any of you catch the news report a couple of days ago about actor Mark Lester? Yes, that cute little chap from the musical "Oliver!". Except that alas he's neither cute nor a little boy anymore.

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It was a most interesting story. Mark Lester, 51, claimed he is the real father of Michael Jackson's daughter Paris.

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Lester was apparently a close friend of Jacko's and godparent to his children, and he now wants to contact the 12-year-old.

Here are some interesting excerpts from what Lester said to the press:

"I gave Michael my sperm so that he could have kids - and I believe Paris is my daughter."

"It's been a secret for too long. In 1996 Michael asked me if I would give him my sperm and I said yes.

"It was a gift to him, no money was paid, it was something I was honoured to do. He wanted children so badly. He realised having kids was a natural thing but that he just couldn't do it. I think he'd already tried using his own sperm but it hadn't worked, so I made an off-the-cuff comment saying, 'Try mine!'"

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What happened next was predictable. A lawyer of the Jackson family lawyer slammed Lester over his sensational claim He branded the former Oliver star's story as "another unproven and meaningless claim". The attorney said courts had no reason to go against findings that the late star is father to all three of his children.

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Lester alleged he was the father of Paris, 12, after claiming he donated sperm for Debbie Rowe, mother of two of Jackson's children. Lester, who said he was willing to take a paternity test, also claims Paris bears an uncanny resemblance to his daughter Harriet, 15.

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Movie Memories - "Melody"

Our old friend John Lee in the UK writes ...

"Hi......All

Let's see if anyone of you remember this one:

back in 1971/72, (we were either in primary 6 or form 1) we were taken to see a film called MELODY, featuring Mark Lester and Tracey Hyde with songs from the Bee Gees (First of May, Melody Fair).

see - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkEG5zOLw3A

[ try http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r3CcgcXkig
if the above doesn't work - website jaga ]

Remember????

Haha

John"

Yeah, John .... I'm sure most of us have sweet memories of that tucked away somewhere in our subconscious. Indeed, I recall that Mark Lester / Jack Wild / Tracy Hyde movie launched quite a craze among the pubescent boys and girls of the 70's. But for the audience of this blog, I guess the focus is squarely on the cute Tracy Hyde. Mark and Jack who?

For the benefit of those whose memories have gone foggy, "Melody" (or the alternative title "S.W.A.L.K." that it was also released as) was the 1971 movie about two youngsters who declare to their parents that they want to get married. Not sometime in the future but as soon as possible. The story is told from the children's point of view.

A bit of trivia - like us, Tracy Hyde was also born in 1959! (16 May 1959 to be exact - for those of you who want to send a card to this childhood idol of yours, now .. in the words of Sinos .. probably a nenek!)

Still, just to fuel those old hormones, here's a picture of Tracy back in 1971 ...

Caution: If you want to keep your childhood memories of Tracy Hyde intact, do NOT read any further !!! :-)

Tracy Hyde never made it much bigger as an actress after "Melody". A couple of other films and TV shows which didn't have too much impact. She had however quite a fan base in Japan, and according to Wikipedia, in 1994, a Japanese TV station sought out Tracy and sent one of their reporters to go to UK to find her. Mark Lester was contacted and when it was found that Tracy had moved to France, Mark and the reporter both went over there to look for her. She had moved there with her husband and her three sons. In 1999, Mark and Tracy were reunited again in another Japanese TV special. Tracy has since re-married and has returned home to London where she now manages the family business, a kennel boarding service.

(Normally I would quip that Tracy Hyde has gone to the dogs, but that would be unkind :-)