Bowler did his best

Press, 4 July 1978, Page 1

Bowler did his best

By

LES BLOXHAM

A determined bid by the British actor, Norman Bowler, to honour a commitment to appear as a guest on this year’s Telethon ended in failure at Auckland yesterday after a frustrating 48-hour “travelathon.” Mr Bowler, who has been filming a new television series at Southampton, thought that at one stage last week he would have no chance of reaching New Zealand on time. He was right; but at least he tried. Filming was behind schedule, but last Friday morning he completed his last takes and was released. The start of the Telethon down under was barely 20 hours away when a specially chartered helicopter whisked Mr Bowler from the set at Southampton to the airport at Heathrow. An hour later he was aboard an aircraft which, if everything had gone as planned, would have had him in New Zealand early on Sunday. But four hours out of London the aircraft developed a technical fault which forced it to return to Heathrow. Mr Bowler waited; and waited. Much later he left on another flight for New Zealand, but further delays en route heaped frustration upon frustration. And when, at 8 p.m. on

Sunday, most or New Zealand was cheering to the tune of S3M, a dejected Mr Bowler felt at least three million miles away from the studios of South Pacific Television.

When eventually he did arrive at Auckland yesterday afternoon, all he wanted to do was to go to bed. “I was determined to get here, but now I’m going to sleep for three days,” the actor said. Mr Bowler is expected to pay a brief visit to Christchurch before returning to London.