The Marvellous Matt Monro Trivia Quiz

Answer: Terrence Parsons

Monro was born Terrence Parsons in Shoreditch, London, on December 1 1930. His family was far from wealthy and Monro was the youngest of five.

Regarded as something of a tearaway in his youth, his daughter, Michele, later said in an interview: "He used to listen to Radio Luxembourg and the music he heard transformed him and took him away from reality."

Answer: Beginners Please

After his seventh win, Monro was banned from future competitions in case others thought they were rigged in his favour. The success earned him his own radio show in Hong Kong, "Terry Parsons Sings".

Before the army, Monro began singing in clubs in London at the age of 14. He often joined house bands and passed a hat around for tips.

Answer: Frank Sinatra

George Martin, who would later go on to make The Beatles a big success, was working with Peter Sellers to produce a spoof of Sinatra's album "Songs For Swingin' Lovers!" Sellers,though, could not do the voice.

Monro was brought in and paid £25 to sing "You Keep Me Swinging". He was credited as 'Fred Fange'.

Answer: Portrait Of My Love

"Portrait Of My Love" was a UK number three in 1960. It was to be his biggest hit in the UK and became an international success for Steve Lawrence in 1961.

It came after Monro had struggled for a time after leaving the army. He found it hard to make an impact as a commercial singer and ended up driving long-distance lorries and London buses. He did, though, find a musical outlet singing jingles for radio commercials.

Other hits that followed included "My Kind Of Girl", "Gonna Build a Mountain", "Softly As I Leave You", "From Russia with Love" and "Walk Away".

The wrong answers were all hits for Cliff Richard, with and without The Shadows.

Answer: From Russia With Love

In 1963, "From Russia With Love" was the second official Bond movie. The score came from the John Barry Orchestra.

Lionel Bart wrote the song that was heard being sung by Monro on a radio during the action. It got a full outing over the closing titles. The single was a UK number 20.

Answer: Born Free

The title track to "Born Free" won the writing duo of Don Black and John Barry an Oscar for Original Song at the 1967 Academy Awards.

"Born Free" was the movie story of Joy and George Adamson who raised a lion cub to adulthood and released it into the wild in Kenya. Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers, themselves married to each other, played the Adamsons.

The movie was based on the book of the same name by Joy Adamson.

Answer: The Italian Job

This was the song that propelled Matt Monro to international stardom, his daughter Michele was later to say.

It was produced by Quincy Jones for a movie about a gang of robbers who travelled from England to rob a bank in Turin and get entangled with the mafia along the way.

With some memorable car chases included, the original "The Italian Job" remains one of this quiz author's favourite movies.

Answer: Spanish

'Alguien Canto' sold seven millio copies. Monro could not speak Spanish and learnt the song phonetically.

It earned him a whole new audience in South America, and a million dollar US contract with Capitol Records after Sinatra decamped to Reprise.

Matt was oft-times nicknamed 'the Cockney Sinatra'; Old Blue Eyes was later to say "If I had to choose three of the finest male vocalists in the singing business, Matt would be one of them."

Answer: Stranger In Paradise

In a March 2020 interview, Michele Monro said her father had a three week residency at the Plaza Hotel in New York and recorded a number of songs with a small group of musicians.

He had intended it to be an intimate recording, but post-recording, Capitol Records dubbed in an an entire swathe of strings. "My dad went absolutely nuts", Michele Monro said, and refused to allow it to be released.

Monro's original recording of those sessions was released, in the way he had intended them, as part of "Stranger In Paradise: The Lost New York Sessions" in 2020.

Answer: Yesterday

At the time the link between the Fab Four and Monro was producer George Martin. Martin had given Monro his big break and later named Monro as the best singer he ever worked with.

For all his popularity on both sides of the Atlantic on record, in concert performances and on television, Matt Monro had a dark side. He drank heavily and also smoked.

This was to have an effect on his health and he was diagnosed with cancer. While a liver transplant was suggested, doctors found the cancer had spread too extensively. He died in hospital in London on February 7, 1985, at the age of 54.