Donny and Marie, in UK, rekindle a columnist's teeny-bopper heart

Even more than in their home country, the Osmond family has always garnered a special fascination and love in the United Kingdom.

That fascination is getting a workout right now, as Donny and Marie Osmond are on tour in the UK — and Jan Moir, columnist for the Daily Mail, tries to capture a little Osmond love in a particularly self-revealing first-person account of the siblings' show in Birmingham, England.

Here's a sample:

The crowd start screaming louder. 'Donny, Donny, over here!' a shuffling woman cries, as she lunges towards him.

That shuffling woman is me. I don't even know why I am doing this. I never liked "Puppy Love." Hated "Crazy Horses." Preferred David Cassidy by a mile. Yet I am caught up in the moment, in the grip of reflexive, murkily remembered Donnymania.

Donny grasps my hand and it is hard to know whose is clammier. He does not catch my eye but still, we share something. We commune across the divide for a split second of gorgeousness.

Then he's off, threading through the surging crowds on his sturdy little leggies, never missing a beat.