MATT MONRO EXTRA EXTRA Read All About It.

Lena & Harry Smith · Post by **Lena & Harry Smith** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 1:07 pm

So many stories in the ( press cuttings ) on the site's web page of Matt's rise to fame and career.
Here's one interesting one that we like........

The Malcolm Lockyer Orchestra warmed up in the recording studio, ready to do a long stint in backing an "unknown" on his first long player.
In walked the nervous newcomer.....garbed in a London Transport bus drivers uniform.
The orchestra exchanged doubtful glances, but then off they went on the first number..... and at the end of it the the band boys all broke into applause and the singer broke into a grin. And within weeks the "LP BLUE AND SENTIMENTAL " starring MATT MONRO broke into the shops.
We loved this story

Eric Woodwards at Disk Desk said this.... I am sure that other albums will follow. for Matt is one of the best bets that Britain has for vocal stardom.
How right he was.

Hilary · Post by **Hilary** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 2:10 pm

Hi Lena and Harry,

What a lovely story. Thank you so much for posting this one.
Eric Woodwards was right wasn't he?! He clearly knew his stuff.

Lena & Harry Smith · Post by **Lena & Harry Smith** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 7:40 pm

Yes Hilary, and if that band had only realised then that this was just the beginning.
We have seen on reading The current News from Michele that there is to be an Audio Book about Matt's life and career sounds brilliant, but this this is just another story that made us smile, Article written by Jack Sax.
In The White Lion Off Denmark Street London's Tin Pan Alley--- you can spot a dozen entertainment business personalities at any given time.
Last week I bumped into BBC Showband singer Matt Monro.
Matt is one of the most pleasant characters in the business. He was discovered by Winifred Atwell . He was a bus driver and before that a long distance lorry driver.
Matt said one of his biggest worries was keeping his weight down.
His tastes in food are fattening. Steaks, roasts, spaghetti and chinese food. One of his companions said, What are you worying about your figure for, your names MATT Monro not Marilyn.

Gray · Post by **Gray** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 8:00 pm

Lena & Harry

Thanks for this, great stories.

Gray

Lena & Harry Smith · Post by **Lena & Harry Smith** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 9:17 pm

Glad you liked the stories too Gray. Anyway Matt and a few of his contempories Glen Mason, David Hughes, Ronnie Carroll,( who was trying to put on weight) and Jimmy Parkinson, hoping to shed some pounds attended sessions under the watchful eye of (song publicist) Bunny Saunders, 14 years a body building expert at the Y.M.C.A. Gymnasium situated behind Tottenham Court Road.
Matt gave up driving and put on 21 pounds, and David Hughes also said that the fans let him know all about it if he puts on weight, he said they write bitterly and even suggest diets.
I have told David's Sister this story, she was amused by it too.

michduncg · Post by **michduncg** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 10:11 pm

Wow - you two should write a book! I love your stories - still chuckling at Arthur Mullard the comissionaire at your local Odeon! Sounds like you've had very interesting lives

Lena & Harry Smith · Post by **Lena & Harry Smith** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 12:10 am

Hi Mike these stories were just one or two from the vast collection of newspaper cuttings from part of the web-site here, but it goes to show after being discovered, right from the start from radio and television, from magazines articles to different newspapers what an impact Matt made in the music world.

To describe it as phenominal is an understatement.

Lena & Harry Smith · Post by **Lena & Harry Smith** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 12:37 am

Oh Arthur Mullard , or Arfur!! not always flavour of the month was often a target for kids with catapults and taking pot shots with anything that was lying around as ammunition. They were taking a risk too because he had made a bit of a name for himself as a boxer, even though he looked as though he'd been mostly on the receiving end of some who were better than him
When he and Hylda Baker she was in her Sixties, appeared on Top Of The Pops (yes it takes some believing) singing You're the One that I Want, disaster struck, they fluffed the words, thus bringing there hopes of true stardom to a close

Unfortunately some tacky stories came to light after Arfur died

michduncg · Post by **michduncg** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 12:49 am

Tacky stories?! The mind boggles!!

I remember him and Hilda doing that Top of the Pops. I think I mentioned here before that I only ever knew him as a panelist on 'Celebrity Squares', where he was a regular along with Diana Dorrs, and Hinge & Bracket! All compered by the marvellous Bob Monkhouse

jon · Post by **jon** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 9:51 am

I remmber Hilda Baker in the comedy show "Nearest and Dearest", which strangely never seems to get repeated on TV (at least not on the mainstream channels) but I notice that is out on DVD.

Lena & Harry Smith · Post by **Lena & Harry Smith** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 10:38 am

Celebrity Squares was probably a saver for Mullard Mike, any faint hopes for a James Bond or Simon Templar role for instance would draw an immediate blank.
Nearest And Dearest was popular Jon and ran for about Five Years on TV. we're surprised it hasn't had a repeat too. But there are several others that we would like to see repeated.
Jean Fergusson from Last Of The Summer Wine did a successful one woman show impersonation of Hylda Baker, who incidently ended her final years in a nursing home, and there were only about half a dozen people at her funeral.

jon · Post by **jon** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 10:51 am

Lena/Harry

Nearest and Dearest was indeed popular, but so was "On The Buses" and that's never repeated either. Someone recently said that this was because it "wasn't very good". It's interesting that Hylda Baker only had a few people at her funeral. Puts me in mind of Joan Sims who died an alcoholic and was in a very sorry state. Just shows that success and fame can't buy friends or happiness.

michduncg · Post by **michduncg** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 11:01 am

Last of the summer wine is such a clever story - the characters who were 'young' in it 30 years ago are now turning into old fogeys themselves - its perpetual television!

Hmmm - not sure about 'On the Buses' Jon - only ever seen the films and they were bad enough, but I suppose a lot of those feature versions were weren't they. That said, I loved the least PC comedy of all - no, not love thy neighbour, but 'Mind your Language'! Take every racial sterotype, and exagerate it - but to my young mind it was great fun! An Indian and Pakistani always fighting, the German lady always knitting and baking, the Greek & Turkish guy always fighting and the Spanish guy who was just thick! Oh yeah, a chinese lady in a Maoist suit, and always quoting Maoisms. A lot of old comedies don't look that great when you seem them again now - seems like only 'The Good Life' and 'Fawlty Towers' have stood the test of time!

Lena & Harry Smith · Post by **Lena & Harry Smith** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 11:48 am

And as good as" Only Fools And Horses," " Porridge," and "The Two Ronnies" are, they are really milking those.

john · Post by **john** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 12:12 pm

we like on the buses as well, we must have seen the films a hundred times, like the series as well, the only thing is i think they got a bit stuck for ideas for the films and tended to repeat some of the lines and scenes from the series to the films.