Lynda Topp is pictured now doing what she loves, fishing! Photo / Supplied
Lynda Topp is pictured now doing what she loves, fishing! Photo / Supplied
Does wisdom really come with age? Lillie Rohan asked six New Zealand high achievers to write a letter to their 25-year-old self. Today, entertainment legend Dame Lynda Topp.
Dear Lynda
It's taken me 40-odd years to pen this letter but I just wanted to let you know how proud ofyou I am.
I know you spent a lot of your 20s fighting for things you believed in, and you made it so much easier for me and many other lesbian woman in New Zealand to be accepted and proud to be gay.
We also live in a nuclear-free country and I know that you and many other young people marched against American nuclear-powered warships entering our harbours.
There was that historic moment in Hamilton when the All Blacks/Springboks test was called off due to anti-apartheid protesters on the field. I know that you and your twin sister were on the frontline with a dedicated bunch of committed protesters from the Patu Squad and, eventually, South Africa changed its ways and Nelson Mandala was freed.
New Zealand entertainers, Lynda and her sister Jools Topp pictured when they were 25. Photo / Supplied
Then there was that time you and your sister lived out in the bush with no power. You had an old Holden station wagon, a couple of dogs and a guitar.
You had no money and somehow ended up on Queen St busking to get enough money to buy some gas to get back home and you made enough money to buy a full tank of gas, some dog food, and a box of beer.
After that night you busked in Queen St every Friday for a whole year till, finally, the crowd got so big you were arrested by the police and charged with obstructing the footpath.
I know that you never thought that you would become entertainers, but a phone call to Mum and Dad changed your lives: "Hi Mum, it's Lynda here. Jools and I would like to come home and take over the family farm."
It was what you had always wanted to do.
It was Dad who replied. He must have taken the phone from Mum. I can still hear the reply today: "You girls go and see the world. If you come back to the farm, you'll be tied to it for the rest of your lives."
Looking back it was the greatest advice the old man ever gave you.
The rest of your story, I suppose, is history.
Lynda Topp is pictured now doing what she loves, fishing! Photo / Supplied
You stood up for the things you believed in, felt you could change the world, wrote songs to reflect those issues and guess what - you did help change New Zealand, and if you ever want to do it all again, I'll be right there beside you.
I'm happily married now. l live in the South Island, still have a couple of dogs, still singing, oh and I'm a Dame.
Gotta go now, I'm off to plant some natives on a wetland I'm helping to restore.
Love Lynda
PS: I'm 63 now - hope you're proud of me too.
• Dame Lynda and Dame Jools Topp have been entertaining as the Topp Twins for decades, touring live music and comedy performances, as well as appearing on TV and film.
