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Daily Mail WeekenD C M y k 14 MarCh national cashing in Despite the name, Robin Hood never visited Yorkshire’s Robin Hood’s Bay – the name comes from a ballad It was for the celebs of different beliefs who trekked an Ottoman t r a i l i n a n e w s e r i e s of Pilgrimage W hen Michele Monro’s mother was dying, the Macmillan can- cer nurses tried to arrange to replace her bed at home with a hospital bed. ‘She refused,’ says Michele. ‘She said her bed was the one she’d shared with her hus- band, and wouldn’t get rid of it.’ Nor had she ever considered mar- rying again. ‘She wouldn’t even go out for lunch with another man. She used to say, “I am Mrs Matt Monro, and I will always be Mrs Matt Mon- ro”, and that’s all there was to it.’ Unforgettable love songs were Matt Monro’s professional legacy, of course. He was famous for hits l ike Portrait Of My Love and My Kind Of Girl. But his daughter Michele describes the real-life romance between her parents as ‘one hell of a love story’ – and it is. Both Mickie Schuller and Matt Monro were unhappily married to other people when they met. Mickie, a German Jew, had escaped the Nazi regime when evacuated to Britain as part of the Kindertransport programme in 1938. She was working for a London music publisher when she met Matt, a former bus driver who was trying to get his big break in the music biz. He’d had some success, landing a record deal in the mid-50s, but by the end of the decade his star had waned and his earnings (including those for singing a jingle for a Camay soap TV advert) weren’t enough to live on. He and Mickie married in 1959 and were together until Matt’s death, aged just 54, in 1985, and Michele insists that had it not been for Mickie, Matt’s singing career would never have properly taken off. ‘Without her there wouldn’t have been a “him”. They got married 13 days after I was born, and around then Dad had an interview for a sales rep job with a paintbrush firm. He’d already had every job under the sun – lorry driver, bus driver, milkman, cement layer – because he had to bring money in while waiting for his big break. ‘Mum said, “Enough”, and told him he had to dress and act the part of a singer, because he needed to be ready for the break when it came. They were so hard up. They bought a little second-hand car and he’d sleep in it after gigs. Once, he had to bor- row £7 so they could eat for a week. But Mum believed in him.’ That big break came when he col- laborated with George Martin, soon to become the producer for The Beatles, and his 1960 single Portrait Of My Love reached No 3. Among Matt’s many subsequent successes were songs in three big films – the title tracks from From Russia With Love and Born Free, and the opening song from The Italian Job, On Days Like These. He also came second in the 1964 Eurovision Song Contest with I Love The Little Things. In total, Matt, who became known as the Man with the Golden Voice, sold more than 100 million records. Other global stars were falling over themselves to express awe at his voice and talent. Frank Sinatra (to whom Matt was constantly com- pared) rated him highly, and once said he was the only British singer he listened to. Paul McCartney was a friend as well as an admirer of his talent. ‘Matt was a great artist,’ he said after his death. ‘He was always a pleasure to be with.’ Cilla Black called herself ‘an everlasting fan’. Now, 60 years after his first hit, comes a new Matt Monro release, Stranger In Paradise. The album fea- tures ‘lost’ renditions of Broadway songs recorded in New York in 1966, as well as Matt’s greatest hits. Michele says her father record- ed many songs that were never released. ‘I’ll never put some of those out because he hated them. Others, he just wasn’t happy with how they were put togeth- er. With the New York sessions, he did the recording and thought that was that, but then orchestral backing was added, and they butchered it. He hated it. This version strips it all back, so it’s quite intimate.’ Matt counted some of the biggest names in British showbiz as his friends – and as a child Michele thought it was normal to have peo- ple such as Morecambe and Wise or Bruce Forsyth popping round for tea. His social circle included come- dians Spike Milligan and Dave Allen, and entertainers such as Jim- my Tarbuck and Bernie Winters. ‘They were just Dad’s mates,’ says Michele, now 60. ‘And he was never remotely “showbiz”. He just wanted to sing. All his mates were people he worked with in summer seasons, and T he Sultan’s trai was once a military route, a 16th-century path forged by Suleiman the Magnificent Sultan of the ottoman empire, to invade Belgrade and hungary. that war- torn past is long behind it now, and the 1,400-mile route between Vienna and istanbul has been redesignated as a peace trail, a meeting place for people of all faiths. Which makes it the perfect location for BBC2’s Pilgrimage, back for a third series with a new group of celebrities w walk sections of the trail from Serbia to istanbul, ending at the magnificent Suleymaniye Mosque. the format is the same, with a mixture of faiths – and ‘non- faiths’ – represented among the seven pilgrims, allowing for reflection, lively discussion and also, as former politician edwina Currie puts it, ‘a lot of fun’. raised an orthodox Jew, the 73-year-old says she’s now more culturally Jewish than spiritually so. ‘i’m not that religious,’ she admits. ‘But i am curious to learn.’ Joining her are broadcaster adrian Chiles, 52, who converted to Catholicism in his late 30s. ‘Some days i think it gives me something else to feel guilty about, but more often than it feels like a refuge,’ he says. also a ‘believer’ is former javelin world champion Fatima Whitbread, 59, who says Sunday school gave her a ‘belief mechanism’ that was a comfort during the early years of her life spent in a care home. Practising Muslim Mim Shaikh, a 28-year-old actor and presenter, has an ‘undeniable’ belief in God. he’s brought his ten-year-old prayer mat with him and say it gives him comfort. ‘you ca see God everywhere,’ he add entrepreneur and present amar latif, 45, is also a Musl but a questioning one. he lost 95% of his sight at the age of 18 – and this has ironically proved his passport to the world after he set up a travel agency to join blind and sighted people together on holidays. ‘Blindness has allowed me to see the world,’ he says. Firmly in the atheist category is comedian Dom Joly, 52, whose robust lack of belief was forged by his upbringing in war-torn lebanon. his attitude to religion is summed up as ‘you can have yours, just leave me out of it’, a sentiment largely shared by actress Pauline Mclynn. Best known as Mrs Doyle in Father ted, Pauline, 57, was raised a Catholic but, now secular, is hoping to use the show ‘to figure out where i stand in the world’. their trip takes them through breathtaking countryside and picturesque villages scattered with fruit trees – leading adrian to quip, ‘tory minister steals from peasants,’ after edwina plucks an apple from a tree. there’s no shortage of hospitality, with the ms joining a feast on the the Serbian orthodox rch celebrates the birth of Virgin Mary. yet there are ering moments too: at nis centration Camp in Serbia, ere Serbs, romanies and ws were held captive during e German occupation of 41-1944, the pilgrims learn at 10,000 prisoners are ought to have died. yet despite the array of ages nd backgrounds, the group onded. ‘We got fed up with ach other from time to time; here were complaints about noring,’ says edwina, who herself ‘the pensioner at the back . ‘But mostly we helped each other. it was like the Canterbury tales.’ Dom agrees. ‘i like arguments, so i wanted to argue with a lot of religious people. that didn’t happen as they all turned out to be quite reasonable.’ But there’s no question it had a profound impact on them. ‘this has been about self- growth, and it will remain special to me forever,’ says Fatima. n Kathryn Knight Pilgrimage: The Road To Istanbul will air later this month on BBC2. pHoTogRapHS: Rex/SHuTTeRSToCk, alamY, geTTY imageS ‘They were s o hard up he slept i n the c ar after gigs’ W t w s t b r o u a r M o l K il t, e t who f DADD Y ’S SONG FOR ME t r a i l i n a n e w s e r i e s o n not d ys an ds. ter im, ost sentiment largely shared by ilgri ay t hur he V obe on he ew he 94 ha ho n o a h s s h back’ Suleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul, where the trail ends Back row: Dom, Edwina, Pauline, Fatima and Amar. Front: Mim and Adrian faıth L eap o weekend 10
