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SUNDAY MIRROR
8 February 1970
WHY WE KEPT OUR LOVE SECRET
by the leader of Jethro Tull, married last week
Would you let your daughter marry a musician whose admitted public image is that of "a shock-haired lunatic who stands on one leg and plays a flute"?
When Mr and Mrs Franks of Bushey Heath, Herts, learned that their daughter, Jennie, was going steady with Ian Anderson, leader of the pop rage of the day, Jethro Tull, they were aghast.
That Ian was already a rich man — and before the year is out will almost certainly be a millionaire — made no impression. Nor did the news of a recent pop poll which placed Ian above Mick Jagger, Tom Jones and Elvis Presley.
But finally the Franks decided to look more closely beneath Ian's pop veneer, and what they saw they liked.
The result? Last Monday at Watford, Jennie and Ian were secretly married with the blessing of all concerned. The wrath of the gritted-teeth 'groupies' will probably come later.
Ian had just returned from a hide-out honeymoon to his new Belgravia flat when I asked him why all the secrecy?
The 22-year-old Blackpool lad belied his 'wild man of pops' image as, in cultured tones, he told me:
"It was in the hope that we could get married like anyone else — just a family occasion with a few friends.
"The one thing I wanted to prove to Jennie's parents was that our married life wouldn't be part of the pop circus.
"But the whole romance, which has been going on for about a year, has had to be a furtive thing.
"Jennie was a secretary in the offices of the Chrysalis Agency, the people who manage our group, and there's a strict rule that the female staff mustn't date musicians.
FANCY
"So when she and I wanted to talk, other than over a hot typewriter, it had to be in secret.
"Things came to a head when Jethro Tull was in Los Angeles, and our manager, Terry Ellis, felt a little homesick and told me: 'You know that girl, Jennie Franks, back in the London office? I really fancy her.'
"I was staggered, because by now Jennie and I were really serious. So I said I thought there was a rule against dating girls in the office.
"Terry laughed and said that it applied only to musicians. He was Jennie's boss and that was different. So I came clean and told him how she and I stood.
"But the secrecy at the office was kids' stuff compared to keeping things from her parents. Jennie would even switch the TV to the opposite channel when I was on, so they couldn't make remarks about my appearance which she would have to defend.
"Eventually we got the courage to face them together. They were very brave about it, too, but there was no doubt they would have preferred Frankenstein's monster to me for their daughter's boy friend.
"But after a while they got used to me and when we sprung it on them a few weeks ago that we were going to get married, they didn't raise any objections.
"Candidly, I didn't see why they should. Marriage to me is a serious business.
"For the last six months Jennie and I have discussed every aspect of it. She knows she's married to a pop musician, and is prepared for the hazards.
"But we're going into it with our eyes open."
Said Jennie's father:
"He is an intelligent, well-balanced lad from a very nice family. As for the wild, hairy look, I suppose it's just as much a necessary gimmick as the gaudy clothes Max Miller used to wear."
FOOTNOTE: Jethro Tull, besides being a group name seldom out of the charts (currently at No. 3 with The Witch's Promise), was originally the name of an eighteenth-century inventor of agricultural implements. He also played a cool lute.
JACK BENTLEY