On page two of the cover of this issue we present a portrait of Miss Olive Kent, the one-legged jitterbug dancer. Below is her amazing story.
Since a photograph of Olive Kent, one-legged jitterbug dancing champion of Swansea, appeared in the Press in march she has received more than 300 letters from men in the Services, and more proposals than she can remember.
Olive takes a keen interest in her 300 boy friends and spends many hours every day writing to them, carefully following a system of indexing that would do credit to a mail-order firm.
Letters reach her regularly from most of the R. A. F. and army camps in England and sometimes from warships patrolling the seas; from Canada, Egypt and from many other parts of the world.
Olive willingly spends a11 her pocket money on stamps and stationary.
"The daily press got me into this delightful trouble", she said.
Olive's pictures appeared in the newspapers after she had won the Easter jitterbug champion contest in Swansea. Since then she has had little time to dance, swim, hike and cycle, all of which she does with the zeal of a person with two legs. She has a full-time job in letter-writing.
One of her correspondents is George Mock, of Ontario, a planter, who has a sister with one leg.
"He is sweet," said Olive, "and I hope to sail for Canada in the spring, war or no war. It will be a thrill to pick peaches and to see what is life is like in Canada."
Olive has broadcast as a crooner, and now hopes to take part in ENSA programmes.
She had one last thing to say about her pen-friends: "They're a lovely lot of boys, and I love them all."
In case my letters get hold up in the post I would like to take this opportunity of wishing them all a happy Christmas and the best of luck."