James Bond

[john]

Have just watched with great pleasure Mickie, Michele and Matt jnr talking about Matt's involvement with FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE with footage from the Australian concert. Really great to see this, and all the family showing such love and emotion for this wonderful man.

[michduncg]

Hi John, just watched that as well, and was pondering on whether to start a thread in 'Matt On Tv' when you beat me to it!

A fantastic programme all around, with some great anicdotes from the likes of John Barry & Don Rice. But the highlight was Matt and the Monros'! It was a real thrill to see him perform 'From Russia with Love' to a live audience, and reassuring to see it score such a high result. But I think the real pleasure was to hear the wonderful acclaim that the other contributors held for Matt, and the stories that Michelle, Mickie and Matt Jnr had about Matt in connection with this song

[ROBERT M.]

Yes, I watched the whole two hours, GREAT programme Mike, have you got the DVD "An Evening With Matt Monro" ?? just curious as thats where "From Russia With Love" and from another topic "Georgy Girl" comes from

[Lena & Harry Smith]

No fear of us missing this programme. We really enjoyed watching and recalling these films and the songs, and not forgetting that these earlier Bond films didn't have the extra benefits of the technological gadgets e.t.c. but somehow are still difficult to beat Not that we've seen them all.
Nice to see and hear the comments from Michele, Matt and Mickie. about Matt and From "Russia With Love."
There was a lot of Shirley Bassey, nice comments about our Shirl (well most of em}
Great two hours entertainment, with the best part being the latter part

[ROBERT M.]

Nancy Sinatra commented on Matts excellent voice the producers tried to get Frank Sinatra to sing the theme for "You Only Live Twice" but Frank recommended Nancy for the song but she did a fairly decent attempt

[Lena & Harry Smith]

And what Frank says goes OK.

[ROBERT M.]

Well it did then or

[michduncg]

Well obviously if what he said went now, we'd be needing Doris Stokes to help us Oh hang on - think she's dead as well

Back to Bond though - was lovely to hear Nancy Sinatra be very honest about her performance, and hear that John Williams had to edit her song from the 10 or 12 takes that she had had. It is one of the most hauntingly beautiful Bond themes - very different from Shirleys power ballads - although I will never be able to listen to 'Diamonds are forever' in the same light again

Matts song is still my other fave Bond tune, and clearly Nancy Sinatra and others rated Matt very highly. What a wonderful narrative Matt received too, accurately explaining his superb singing ability, his comparison to Sinatra, and his 60s cool image .