NSW:Thousands in place for Oprah's shows

AAP General News (Australia)
12-14-2010
NSW:Thousands in place for Oprah's shows

SYDNEY, Dec 14 AAP - Thousands of Oprah Winfrey fans have almost finished filing onto
the Opera House forecourt for her Sydney shows.

Ticket holders are almost all inside the cordoned-off site, with just a handful of
hopeful people still waiting in a line for last minute tickets - which will be made available
if there's any extra space within the site.

They include some diehards who queued for hours for just a glimpse of their television idol.

Several fans in the Macquarie Street queue looked exhausted as they waited to get in,
with at least one sinking to her knees and holding her head in her hands as she waited
in the morning sunshine.

Others were more buoyant, chanting Oprah's name and waving banners.

"I heart Oprah" t-shirts have been selling like hot cakes in Circular Quay shops.

"They've been flying out the shop all week," the owner of one shop, who declined to
be named, told AAP.

"I've never known anything like it."

Alan Lett, 65, slept rough in the Royal Botanical Gardens in an effort to see Oprah.

"I just put a towel over me, I did have a pillow. It was a bit cold," he told AAP.

"I only hope some way Oprah finds out about me and I get to meet her," he said.

"She's a beautiful person, so kind. I've been watching her for over 30 years."

Ticket holder Kylie McGrath said she and her husband had come all the way from Perth.

"Somehow we managed to get a ticket through the ballot, so the minute we won I said
to my husband, 'Book the flights!.'"

The first of Oprah's shows is due to be filmed at 10am (AEDT), the second about 5pm (AEDT).

AAP mdg/wjf/maur

KEYWORD: OPRAH 2ND UPDATE

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