On this day in 1984, British ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean arrived at Canberra Airport the day before. They were greeted with a touch of royalty with the presence of a guard of honour, a band and even a Rolls Royce that took them away from admiring fans.
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Torvill and Dean were scheduled to perform for several nights at the National Indoor Sports Centre. It was arranged for them to leave the airport via the premises of the Canberra Aero Club and not the terminal building.
The bwana of the Canberra City Band told his charges to make their way onto the cold tarmac to begin performing as they were about to land. The Canberra Ice Skating Club made up the guard of honour. They wore their ice skates, with the blades sheathed, and ice-skating garb.
A lot of the fans who had turned up were English with a group of women having a strong Nottingham connection. Torvill and Dean were the most famous citizens of the city at the time. Margaret Kelly stated "I was born in Nottingham" and Hilda Barrett also shared "I'm proud of them because I come from Nottingham, too".
As the two ice skaters exited the plane, there were shrieks of excitement from the crowd. They walked towards the fans that were gathered as the band began playing 'Bolero', a melody they were known for.
![The front page of the paper on this day in 1984. The front page of the paper on this day in 1984.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/232169359/5bedb531-eed5-4410-bce4-370ccba7b892.png/r0_0_905_1241_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The couple were presented with flowers from Tara Jackson, 5, and Tim Gordon, 3. Tara was told to say "welcome to Canberra". The ACT tourist commissioner David Dickson welcomed the skaters with a short address: "You'll be playing in the Palace [the National Indoor Sports Centre], home of the best basketball team in Australia [the Canberra Cannons]."
Although the couple did not respond verbally, they smiled graciously to thank the crowd that turned out for them. They proceed indoors to sign autographs before being driven away.