Olivia Newton-John talks to The Telegraph about making Grease with John Travolta in 1978

This is John Travolta and me after the New York premiere of Grease. I had arrived in a cute little prom dress, then for the after-show party I changed into this pink spandex outfit to reflect the way Sandy, my character, changed her image during the film. There were huge crowds. The movie wasn’t out yet, but already there was a lot of excitement about the launch.

I was very nervous about making the film, because I was an Australian, but they said, ‘That’s OK, you can do an Australian accent.’

I worried that at 29 I was too old to play a high-school girl. But John was charming and really wanted me to do it, and that was one of the deciding factors. He’s a lovely man – we became great friends and he was very helpful to me on set, as I was not an experienced actress.