Love me tender

It was a difficult start for this couple, but 30 years later, Karl and Lesley Willott are toasting the car accident that taught them to never give up. By Josephine Brouard.

The first thing you notice about the Willotts is that they laugh a lot. To this Adelaide couple, a chuckle is worth a thousand words. Ask them what makes their relationship gel and a poker-faced Karl says, “Better the bugger you know,” and roars with amusement. Lesley grins conspiratorially.

“A sense of humour is very important to both of us,” she says. “That, and just being the best of friends.”

They agree that having things in common is another important factor and, in their case, this means a love of music. To Lesley’s mild dismay, Karl is a bit of an Elvis fan, but both appreciate the groove of soul music, especially Motown.

Both also relish movies, the theatre and eating out. The sociable pair first met in Perth, Western Australia, at a local pub’s ’Poms’ Night‘. It was 16 August 1976, the very day, Karl points out, that Elvis was to die a year later. Karl and Lesley immediately “fell in lust” upon seeing each other – was it Karl’s slim hips in those flared bell-bottoms or Lesley’s irrepressible smile? Whatever it was, the two were instantly smitten and, although both were in relationships at the time, they instantly bonded over pints as they identified each other’s British accents. Lesley comes from Leicestershire and Karl is from Manchester, and the couple discovered that each had immigrated to Australia with their family at the age of 16.

Before they knew it, Karl was nonchalantly asking Lesley out for dinner – “no strings attached” – and Lesley accepted. As it transpired, Lesley was in Perth to join a boyfriend she’d met on a recent backpacker tour of Europe. “But within days of meeting Karl, he was buying me eucalyptus oil for my bad head cold and I was thinking how sweet he was,” says Lesley. “Mind you, it helped that I found him incredibly attractive. He was the consummate ‘70s guy: long blond hair, close-cropped beard, tight Staggers jeans and shaggy embroidered yak-skin coat. What wasn’t there to love?”

Within weeks of meeting, Lesley and Karl ended their other relationships, declared their love for each other, set a date to marry – 8 January, which, coincidentally, was Elvis’ birthday – and made plans to settle in Adelaide, where Lesley’s family lived. “We pooled our cash and bought a lovely old Toyota Crown, and prepared to make the long drive from Perth to Adelaide in October to meet Lesley’s family,” Karl recalls. “My parents were in shock; it all happened so quickly,” Lesley adds.

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