One thousand first dates seems like an awful lot to endure before finding someone you are truly compatible with. But it may well be that even that number is actually far too low!

A university student has used a well known mathematical formula called the Drake Equation to calculate his own chances of finding someone he is totall suited to. If his calculations are accurate and universally valid, then we all have to meet several hundred thousand people before we find a perfect match.
 
 
Here's a story about a young woman's quest to find Mr Right using various methods, including online dating. It turns out that it took her several years of continual effort before she found him, ironically living only minutes away from her.  

I suspect that she used a little bit of exaggeration and poetic licence in the retelling of her experiences. The fact that he was her one thousandth date seems contrived to me. However, it's still an amusing tale, and shows the extreme lengths that some people will go to to find love and romance.
 
 
A mysterious and evocative collection of love letters along with photographs from several decades ago were found on a bus in the United Kingdom. As yet, the owner has not been located.

There seems to be a great story of an international, high society romance contained in the letters. This combined with the way they were lost and the mystery over the owner's identity make them particularly intriguing.

Actually, the whole story is great raw material for a film. Which is why I suspect there are already plans afoot to make one about it.
 
 
Australian singer Olivia Newton John has really been put through the wringer by her ex Patrick McDermott. She had to cope with his seeming death by drowning. But now there is confirmation that he is actually alive as many have long suspected.
 
 

Beautiful young Swedish socialite Charlotte Lindstrom has been languishing in an Australian jail after having pleaded guilty to soliciting an alleged hitman to kill two witnesses about to give evidence against her boyfriend Steven Spaliviero in a drug trial. She claimed that the solicitation was not her decision; she was following her boyfriend's instructions.

But in a surprising development, Spaliviero has been cleared of all charges realting to the incident. In the trial, he argued that he never asked Lindstrom to pass on instructions to kill the witnesses; that she wanted them dead because she was besotted with him.

Well, it seems that one of them is lying. And either way it reveals the crazy, scary extremes some people will go to when they are in love.

 
 

Australian singer and actress Olivia Newton John and her boyfriend Patrick McDermott made a very pretty pair for nine years. Then, a few years ago, he disappeared suddenly, presumed drowned.

Now, private investigators are claiming that he's not dead at all; that he faked his own death and is in hiding on a boat off the Mexico coast.

if this is true then it's a terrible betrayal of Newton John, and I really pity her. It must have been very painful for her to learn that he had drowned. Now, if he turns up alive, she'll have to deal with the fact that he's been deceiving her all this time. She'll have her heart broken all over again!

 
 

One long held myth about love is that it has nothing to do with money. But I've always been skeptical about that. 

It's much more likely for men with money to be desirable to women. Unemployed males find it very hard to get a date, after all. And recent research has shown that women enjoy sex more if it is with a wealthy man. 

So, money not only "makes the world go round". It makes the earth move, too!

 
 

Here's an intriguing story with a romantic theme: An attractive Sydney woman claims she met a handsome young man in a city cafe. She was instantly smitten but he suddenly disappeared, leaving his jacket. But he left such an impression on her that she decided to launch an internet campaign to find him featuring his jacket.

If you think it sounds a bit too corny to be true, then you're not the only one. There is a theory that the whole thing is a clever publicity stunt engineered by the company that made the jacket.

 
 

Every now and then a story comes up in the media about how love is overwhelmingly biochemical, and that it won't be long before a scientifically proven "love potion" is developed.

Another one of these stories has just surfaced. Apparently there's been a lot of research into one particular hormone, oxytocin. This seems to be the key, and Australian researches are testing whether it can be used to help ease discord between married couples.

Sounds like the much anticipated "love drug" really is on the verge of creation this time.