“I look at my role as being a friend of Canberra Hospital, I can bring some pleasure and happiness sometimes to people who are really in difficult times in their lives.”
With backing music from a Bluetooth speaker, Sayer croons his way around the cancer wards, making a human connection with everyone he comes across.
Canberra Region Cancer Centre Operations Manager Caroline McIntyre says Sayer’s visits are typically kept a surprise for patients and staff.
“He’s always come in so discreetly,” she says.
“Normally it’s just very quiet, he comes up in the back lift and says hello to literally everybody.
“Some of them are doing it tough, and to have a little bit of joy and light – it really gives them a lift.
“What makes me happy is to see people getting chemo on their feet dancing.”
Jamming with Jimi Hendrix, Countdown and the Troubadour
Originally a graphic designer by trade, English-born Leo Sayer rose to pop prominence in London in the late 1960s, as a singer-songwriter – and was soon adopted by Australia as an honorary son after his first tour here in 1974.
He went on to become an Australian citizen in 2009.
Sayer was a regular on ABC TV’s Countdown during the 70s and 80s, performing chart-toppers like “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing”, “When I Need You”, “More Than I Could Say” and “Orchard Road”.
He blushingly admits they were wild days – when he didn’t always live up to his “good-guy” public persona.
“It was mad, I mean, Top of the Pops in England, Countdown over here,” he says.
“You were mobbed by the fans, I remember being dragged out of a limousine the first tour that I came here, and then speaking to crazy people like Molly Meldrum on TV and trying to sort of like take it all in.”
It seems hard to believe – the petite, well-spoken singer, with a mane of curly hair that inspired changing his name from Gerard to Leo – beating off mobs of screaming fangirls.
Sayer circulated in superstar company, becoming close friends with former Beatles George Harrison and Paul McCartney, collaborating with Roger Daltrey of The Who, and even sharing a sly cigarette or two with John Lennon and Yoko Ono who had a flat above his design studio.
“I met Jimi Hendrix right at the start of his career. I actually jammed with him, playing the harmonica, and him playing the guitar,” he says.
Recalling his 1975 opening night at the famous Troubadour Club in Los Angeles, he looked up to see an intimidating line-up of fans in the front row.
“It was David Bowie, Elton John, and ‘The Fonz’ [Henry Winkler].”
Alongside them: John Cleese, Mick Jagger, Bernie Taupin, and comedian Marty Feldman.
“We never thought it would last, we were adapting to things around us, writing songs about things that are around us,” he says.
“And we thought they were only for our generation — so the amazing thing is my music’s become like a fine wine, where you lay it down and years later, it becomes a collector’s item.
“We’re in an age where the music that I make, young kids are actually latching onto it now, and they’re finding that that generation and that style of music we made is as current now as anything.”
Sayer’s health battles, still spreading hope at 76
Leo Sayer says his hospital charity work caps off a career dedicated to providing joy through music.
“It’s a nice piece of synchronicity really, because I was born in the grounds of a hospital in Shoreham by Sea in Sussex, near Brighton in England,” Mr Sayer said.
“I suppose I’ve always felt comfortable in hospitals and being around hospitals.
“Growing up, my dad was a hospital engineer, Mum was a nurse, my sister was a matron.”
Sayer has health struggles of his own, including three stents in his heart, which help him have a genuine connection to the hospital patients he entertains.
“[My music] is providing something that isn’t taking away from any of the treatment that’s going on. It’s providing something that’s just putting a smile on peoples’ faces.
“Music is communication and that’s what this is all about, we’re communicating, we’re making people feel better.
“We’re not healing people with music, but we are making them feel better about their healing.
“To sell out Canberra Hospital will do me fine.”
Exposed: The Real Story Behind William and Kate’s Affair Rumors – It’s What We Suspected
William and Kate look like the dream pair. It was at the University of St. Andrews that the Prince and Princess of Wales met.
There were some ups and downs in their relationship, but they made it through and got married.
They now have a wonderful family. After his father, King Charles, only time will tell when it is William’s turn to take the throne.
The Prince and Princess Kate really care about their friends and other people they know. But some years ago, a shocking claim about William and a woman who was rumored to be his lover shocked the royal family and fans…
It was not just any woman; it was one of Princess Kate’s best friends. What did really happen? Who is this woman said to be her mistress? How about we take a better look?
Prince William and Princess Kate met at St. Andrews University and became friends there. Before they met, they were both with other people, but it was clear right away that their partnership would be different.
They lived in St. Salvator’s Hall, the same dorm, and went to the same classes and talks. After their second year, they moved in with some friends in a private home, which is where their love grew.
It seemed like William and Kate shared a sense of fun, which was one of the things that made them click.
“She’s got a really naughty sense of humour, which really helps me because I’ve got a really dirty sense of humour so it was good fun, we had a really good laugh, and then things happened,” William said in their engagement video.
It wasn’t long before everyone, or at least the British tabloids, found out that Kate Middleton was dating the future king.
Naturally, the papers wrote as much as they could about the couple. However, they didn’t just write “love is in the air” stories. Instead, they were interested in Kate’s private life and even called her mean things.
Neither William nor Kate went to college in 2005. Kate had a Master of Arts in history and William had a Master of Arts in geography.
Even though they were very close, it looked like other people were trying to hurt their relationship.
Katie Nicholl said that William’s friends made fun of Kate by calling her mean names and making sly jabs at her because of Carole’s job. She was an air hostess for British Airways before she and her husband, Michael, started their well-known business.
Nicholl said on the Dynasty podcast from Vanity Fair that William’s “snooty” friends used this against him. They said “doors to manual” in a whisper when Kate walked into a London bar.
Some upper-class people were also said to have called the princess’s family “the en masse Middletons.”
Kate was called cruel nicknames by William’s friends
The prince’s upper-class friends, who are called the “Glosse Posse” because they are from Gloucestershire, talked down to Kate like she was not worthy of their attention. But Kate never shut up about the “derogatory” things people said about her. Instead, she decided to not look at them.
“It was never water off a duck’s back, but she has extraordinary strength of character and resilience. I’ve never once seen or heard of her losing her temper,” a royal aide told the Sunday Times Magazine.
A source told the Daily Mail in 2021 that Prince William “flew off the handle” when his friends made fun of his lover.
“He flies off the handle at any sign of Kate being patronised and stamps that out very quickly. It’s one of his triggers,” the royal source said.
“Over the years, many people have come up with great ideas for her, but if they are put across in a dismissive way, they’ve got pretty short shrift from him.”
Many people thought it was the start of what would soon be an engagement at that point. But things went badly after only two years.
William and Kate split up in 2007, which got a lot of attention. At the same time, things seemed unstable a year ago when William and Kate turned down each other’s requests to spend big holidays together.
For example, William reportedly turned down Kate’s parents’ invitation to spend New Year’s Eve with them just a few days before, which made Kate cry.
Married in 2011
Nicolell wrote in 2011 a book called The Making of a Royal Romance, in which she said that Kate was afraid for the future of their relationship.
William said he would meet Kate and her family, but he called on Christmas Day to back out. He chose to stay with the royal family instead.
He didn’t know what to do, so the future king talked to the Queen and his father, Charles, about how he felt. It was easy for them to answer.
“William had been having second thoughts and sat down with his father and his grandmother to have a frank discussion about his future with Kate. Both advised him not to hurry into anything,” Nicholl claimed in her book.
The love story between William and Kate was still alive, of course. Their friendship was strong, and they made up.
They got married in Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011. In 2013, they had their first child, Prince George, who will become king. In 2015, they had Princess Charlotte, and in 2018, they had Prince Louis.
People look up to Prince William and Princess Kate as examples of how royals should act in public. It’s also about how they raise their kids. They have made it clear for many years that they want George, Charlotte, and Louis to have a normal childhood, even though they have to follow some rules. They are royal after all, and those rules can seem pretty strict to someone outside.
In 2019, though, a very bad story spread in a US tabloid that shocked the royal family. Had William cheated on his wife?
William was rumored to have had an affair with Kate’s friend Rose Hanbury
The first thing that needs to be said is that nothing has been proven. An American magazine called In Touch said in April 2019 that William “may” have had an affair with Rose Hanbury, who is the Marchioness of Cholmondeley and a friend of Kate’s.
The “falling out” between William, Kate, and Rose was written about in tabloids.
It was reported in In Touch that Kate told William about the claims, but William “laughed it off” and said they weren’t true.
At the time, Richard Kay, a royal expert for the Daily Mail, spoke out against the reports and said they were all lies.
“Both sides have considered legal action, but because none of the reports have been able to offer any evidence about what the so-called dispute is about, they have chosen to ignore it…
These hurtful rumors of a fallout are simply false,” Kay wrote.
There was a lot of talk about it, and in 2019 the Daily Mail said that Kate would “phase out” Rose Hanbury from their group of friends.
Rose lived close to William and Kate, knew a lot of the same people, and had homes in Norfolk that were close to each other. This didn’t help.
William and Kate’s summer home in Anmer Hall is close to Houghton Hall, where Rose and her husband live. Houghton Hall is said to have 106 rooms.
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