Diary of a self-isolator – week 54

A lighthearted look at a few memories and the situation over the last seven days in our house.

Sunday 21/03/2021 – Day 374

Woke up this morning with heavy heart, our family crisis continues. But I need to keep my mind off things so apologies but this is a bit of a thrown together weekly diary.

On this day in 1935 The birth of Brian Clough, English footballer and manager of Nottingham Forest from 1975–1993. Clough was widely considered to be one of the greatest managers of the game and the greatest English manager never to have managed the England team. When I was younger it was always Brian Clough for England manager and Enoch Powell for Prime Minister, who knows what a formidable team they would have been.

On this day in 1997 The death of Wilbert Vere Awdry, Anglican cleric, railway enthusiast, and children’s author. Better known as the Reverend W. Awdry, he was the creator of Thomas the Tank Engine, the central figure in his Railway Series. Awdry was born at Ampfield vicarage in Hampshire and his father was vicar of Ampfield Church. Among his friends were Harvey (No. 27) a maroon crane tank locomotive. He is very cheerful and helps clean up after other engines’ crashes. Well I was born on the 27^th so I think that the name and number are very appropriate.

1999 Ernie Wise, comedian, died aged 73. ‘Morecambe and Wise’ were a comedy legend for generations of people in Britain. They were honoured with posthumous fellowships at the British Academy Television Awards. Fifteen years earlier his partner Eric Morecambe had died on the 28^th May, I like many of you, had grown up with the best comedy pairing since Laurel and Hardy. Their Christmas shows were legendary, who could ever forget Dame Shirley Bassey’’s lovely shoes being swapped for a Miner’s boot, or all those Newsmen singing and dancing to ‘There Is Nothing like a Dame’. And of course Angela Ripon revealing more than her talent for dancing. But the best of them all for me was the 1971 Christmas special with Andre Preview Previn, trying to conduct Greig’s Piano Concerto, with Eric  on the piano it was never going to end well, but it did – with Eric grabbing Previn’s lapels whilst protesting “I’m playing all the right notes – but not necessarily in the right order” sheer brilliance that attracted more than 28 million viewers at its height.

It all came to reality on this day in 2020  It became  Day one of the closure of all the UK’s cafes, pubs and restaurants (except for take-away food) in an effort to combat coronavirus. All nightclubs, betting shops, casinos, theatres, cinemas, gyms and leisure centres were also told to close as soon as they reasonably could. The government said the situation would be reviewed each month and that it would pay 80% of wages (up to £2,500 a month) for employees who were not able to work.

There were 5312 new cases recorded today, with just 35 new deaths registered.

Monday 22/03/ – Day 375

Another very restless night for the both of us, our family crisis continues.

Apparently om this day in 1774 Mary Cooper published the first book of English nursery rhymes. Called Tommy Thumb’s Song Book, it included Baa Baa Black Sheep, whose ‘three bags full’ is thought to refer to a tax imposed on the wool trade in 1275. Well of course, this started me thinking just how other Rhymes were derived.

Did you know for instance that Humpty Dumpty was not a person at all, but a massive siege cannon that was used by Royalist forces (the king’s men) during the English Civil War that raged between 1642 and 1651. It was during the siege of Colchester in 1648, the Royalists hauled Humpty Dumpty to the top of the church tower of St Mary-at-the-Walls, and for eleven weeks Humpty (sat on the wall and) blasted away at the attacking Roundhead troops, defending the town. Old Humpty’s great fall came when the church tower was in time blown up by the Roundheads,  the canon had fallen into, and  had become buried, deep in the surrounding marshland. It wasn’t long before the king’s men led by Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle were soon overrun by the Parliamentarian soldiers of Thomas Fairfax.

The ‘Georgie Porgie’ in the rhyme was actually the Prince Regent, later George IV. A tad on the tubby side, George weighed in at more than 17½ stone with a waist of 50 inches (Georgie Porgie, pudding and pie), and George became a source of ridicule by the press of the day.

Despite being grossly overweight, George had a poor reputation for his lusty romps with women, this meant that several mistresses had a string of illegitimate children. At  23 he fell in love with the beautiful Maria Anne Fitzherbert; he was so besotted with her that he persuaded her to go through with a secret marriage. The marriage would never have been allowed as Maria was a commoner, but much worse; she was a Roman Catholic! George later went on to marry Catherine of Brunswick, whom he hated so much that he had her banned from his coronation. In doing so George had made both the women in his life miserable (kissed the girls and made them cry).

George was basically a cowardly type. That said, he did enjoy watching other people display these attributes; he was a great fan of bare-knuckle boxing. During one of the illegal prize-fights that George attended, a boxer was knocked to floor and subsequently died of his injuries. Frightened of being implicated, the prince made a very quick exit from the scene (when the boys came out to play, Georgie Porgie ran away).

There’s a small village of Kilmersdon in north Somerset that lays claim to being the home of the Jack and Jill rhyme. Local legend recalls how in the late 15th century, a young unmarried couple regularly climbed a nearby hill in order to conduct their liaison in private, away from the prying eyes of the village. Jill fell pregnant, but just before the baby was born Jack was killed by a rock that had fallen from their ‘special’ hill. A few days later, Jill died whilst giving birth to their love child. Their tragic tale unfolds today on a series of inscribed stones that leads along a path to that ‘special’ hill.

And finally, the most famous of all was ‘Ring a Ring of Roses’ While there are disputes, it is widely accepted that this song came from times of plague. Sources differ on whether this was the Black Death of the 1300s or the Great Plague of 1665. The ‘ring o’ roses’ means the red lesions that victims got on their skin, the ‘pocketful of posies’ refers to the herbs people carried to protect them from the disease (and possibly dampen the smell), and at the end everybody sneezes and falls down dead, this led to the original words being changed to ‘Atishoo, atishoo, we all fall down.

A further 5342 new cases were recorded today, the death count – thankfully – continues to fall and is now 17, we may see an increase tomorrow as these are weekend figures.

Tuesday 23/03/2021 – Day 376

Our family crisis continues as does my limited diary.

On this day in 1929 Dr. Roger Bannister, the first person in the world to run a mile in under four minutes was born. His world beating record time was 3 min 59.4 sec

On this day in 1985 Ben Hardwick, Britain’s youngest liver transplant patient at just three years old, died in hospital. He inspired a national fund raising campaign and became a celebrity through appearing on the BBC television programme That’s Life! after his parents appealed for more awareness of organ donation when their son, who suffered from biliary atresia, urgently needed a transplant. While he also became the first child in the country to receive a liver transplant, the initial transplant failed. After a second transplant the following year, he died of complications at the age of 3. Following this event, at least £10,000  (£31000 today) was raised in Ben’s name to support other seriously ill children.

In his memory, his family set up the Ben Hardwick Memorial Fund, which aimed to offer financial support to the families of children who suffer from primary liver disease. British celebrity Esther Rantzen, who hosted That’s Life! and co-wrote a book based on Ben’s story, was a trustee on the fund’s board. The Ben Hardwick Fund took over the work of the Ben Hardwick Memorial Fund in 1997. Esther Rantzen is patron of the present fund, which helps children suffering from primary liver disease with costs associated with their illness.

In that same year  Marti Webb released as a tribute a cover version of the Michael Jackson song “Ben“, which reached number 5 in the UK charts, the royalties being donated to the Memorial Fund.

On this day in 2011 Dame Elizabeth Taylor, one of the 20th century’s biggest film stars, died in Los Angeles at the age of 79. Throughout her adult years, Taylor’s personal life, especially her eight marriages (two to the same man), drew a large amount of media attention and public disapproval. According to biographer Alexander Walker, “Whether she liked it or not … marriage is the matrix of the myth that began surrounding Elizabeth Taylor from [when she was sixteen]”. MGM organized her to date football champion Glenn Davis in 1948, and the following year, she was briefly engaged to William Pawley Jr., son of US ambassador William D. Pawley.  Film tycoon Howard Hughes also wanted to marry her, and offered to pay her parents a six-figure sum of money if she were to become his wife. Taylor declined the offer, but was otherwise eager to marry young, as her “rather puritanical upbringing and beliefs” made her believe that “love was synonymous with marriage”. Taylor later described herself as being “emotionally immature” during this time due to her sheltered childhood, and believed that she could gain independence from her parents and MGM through marriage.

On this day exactly one year ago the prime minister, Boris Johnson, addressed the nation and told the public that they were only permitted to leave their homes for essential needs, in an attempt to reduce the spread of the deadly coronavirus pandemic.

A minute’s silence, held at midday, was part of a day of reflection to mark one year since the first coronavirus lockdown. One year on, the UK’s official death toll had risen from 364 to 126,172. Tonight at 8.00pm people all across the UK are being asked to stand on their doorsteps and shine a light for all those who have fallen victim and died from this terrible disease.

As predicted, the number of deaths rose to 112 today, new cases recorded still hover around the 5000 mark at 5378.

Wednesday 24/03/2021 – Day 377

Still no good news yet re our crisis, so I’ll continue with my limited diary.

On this day in 1877 The Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race on the River Thames ended in a dead heat. Legend in Oxford has it that the judge, ‘Honest John’ Phelps, was asleep under a bush when the race finished, leading him to announce the result as a ‘dead heat to Oxford by four feet’. 74 years later in 1951 on this day, the Oxford boat sank during the University boat race. Cambridge won the rematch two days later.

1970 Boxer Henry Cooper retained his British heavyweight title beating challenger Jack Bodell. In May 1971, a 36-year-old Cooper faced 21-year-old Joe Bugner, one of the biggest heavyweights in the world for the British, European, and Commonwealth belts. Referee Harry Gibbs awarded the fight to Bugner by a quarter of a point score (which was subsequently abolished partly because of the controversy that followed). An audience mainly composed of Cooper fans did not appreciate the innately cautious Bugner, and the decision was booed with commentator Harry Carpenter asking, “And how, in the world, can you take away the man’s three titles, like that?” Cooper announced his retirement shortly afterwards. Cooper refused to speak to Gibbs for many years, but eventually agreed to shake his hand while they were at a charity event.

A slight rise in new cases today as 5605 cases are recorded, also aslight drop in registered deaths at 98.

Thursday 25/03/2021 – Day 378

Things are still the same, I thought I’d share a story from my archives about the late, great Matt Monro.

I only have to hear ‘Walk Away’ to be transported back to 1964 and the kitchen of our council house, My dear old Mum cooking Sunday lunch, the smell of roast beef and 2 way Family Favourites on the radio which never moved from the window sill, of course, the next time it surfaced was as one of the Krays beat the hell out of two blokes who were admiring his car, not a good memory. Matt Monro was born Terence Edward Parsons in north London on 1st December 1930, to Alice and Frederick. He had three brothers, Arthur, Reg and Harry and a sister, Alice. It was a tough childhood, his father died of TB when he was three, two years later his mother suffered a nervous breakdown and was admitted to a sanatorium, he was fostered out for two years until his mother was once again well enough to look after him. Sadly his Mum died later from a brain tumour and Matt was once again fostered out.  Moved from one school to the next, he hardly ever turned up to lessons at any of them and his childhood became even more disrupted when the war forced his evacuation to the country until his Nan got him back to London. .

Leaving school at 14, he tried a succession of jobs without sticking at any of them for very long, he enlisted for National Service before his call up at age 18.  Matt became a tank driving instructor in the army with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) and was posted to Hong Kong. It was there in 1949 that he got his first break on a radio station owned predominantly by Radio Rediffusion who would eventually become the Television company.

He had sung in public from an early age, notably at the local Tufnell Park Palais, and in Hong Kong he took to entering local talent contests, winning several. In fact, he became so successful he was eventually barred from competing. Instead they gave him his own radio show, simply called Terry Parsons Sings. Following demob he returned to London in 1953

Before too long, however, pianist Winifred Atwell heard a demo of his voice and recommended him to her recording company, Decca, they signed him up. She also helped choose his new name, Matt Monro. Matt coming from Matt White, a journalist friend, and Monro was her father’s first name.

When his first proper girlfriend Iris Jordan became pregnant with his son Mitchell, Terry felt obliged to marry her which he duly did in 1955 but it was a loveless marriage. The responsibilities of being a father didn’t help with his ambition to be a star. He got a job as a London bus driver and would sing in the evenings.

After a separation Iris and Matt were finally divorced a few years later.

When he joined Decca he met a young female music promoter, Renate Schuller, whom everyone called Mickie. Like Matt she too was in a troublesome marriage, at first she thought Matt pompous and overbearing, but one day something clicked and the two of them hit it off.

Matt married Mickie in 1959 as soon as their divorces came through.

they had two children, Michele and Matthew. He began unglamorous but lucrative work singing jingles for TV commercials. It was at this stage that Mickey insisted that Matt should go professional and she worked really hard for the family while the transition took place.

Suddenly Terry Parsons had a new life, a new career, a new wife and a new name. But his life really changed for the better when he was asked to sing for a Peter Sellers album called Songs For Swinging Sellers. The album was being produced by George Martin, who would later produce The Beatles’ records. Sellers had to sing the first song of his new album ‘You Keep Me Swingin’ in the style of Frank Sinatra and as Martin had heard that Matt’s voice was similar to Sinatra’s, he asked him to sing it so that Sellers would have someone to copy. In the end Sellers and Martin were so impressed with Matt’s version that they included it on the record. Sellers realised he couldn’t improve on it himself and the recording was included on the LP under the name of Fred Flange. When word got out who the singer really was and what a fine voice he had, George Martin knew he was onto a winner.

This resulted in Martin giving Matt a Parlophone contract Almost within weeks the combination of Monro, Martin and arranger/conductor Johnnie Spence had UK hit parade success with Portrait of My Love it reached No3 on the charts in December 1960 and stayed on the chart for 16 weeks.

3 months later in March 1961 he would reach No5 with the more upbeat ‘My Kind of Girl’ and fans were starting to warm to his smooth baritone vocals.

In February 1962 he came back with another wonderful ballad called ‘Softly As I Leave You’ which got to No 10 in the UK charts. But once again his next two releases didn’t make the top 20, then in 1963 he was to record a song that would endear him to a more worldwide audience, he was approached to sing the new theme song for James Bonds ‘From Russia With Love’.  the record sold well but disappointedly only reached No 20 on the charts.

Matt also represented the UK for Copenhagen Eurovision 1964 with “I Love the Little Things”. Matt finished 2nd with 17 points for the UK, while he was performing there  he heard a song which he thought was excellent, The Austrian entry “Warum nur Warum?“, was later translated to English by Don Black and became ‘Walk Away’.

In 1964 this for me was his best ever record, ‘Walk Away’ was a beautiful record which suited his baritone voice perfectly, as I mentioned earlier it was used in the film ‘The Krays’ while two men were savagely beaten for just looking at his car. It reached No 4 on the charts yet was his biggest success staying in the top twenty for 20 weeks.

His last foray into the British charts came in November 1965 with ‘Yesterday’ – there is a strange story attached to the song according to Matt’s son, he recalls “The Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein had told Paul McCartney that he didn’t want some songs recorded yet, one being ‘Yesterday.’ So Paul went to Dad and said: ‘Do you like this song?’ Dad became the first person ever to record it and had a hit with it long before The Beatles did!” Matt’s version reached No 8 in 1965.

The following year in 1966, Matt sang the Oscar-winning title song for the film, ‘Born Free’. It was his second collaboration with John Barry, following ‘From Russia With Love’. Matt went on to record two further songs from Barry film scores: “Wednesday’s Child” (from the film ‘The Quiller Memorandum,’ 1966) and “This Way Mary” (from Mary Queen of Scots 1971). Both Born Free and “On Days Like These” (from the film The Italian Job 1969) had lyrics by Don Black. Strangely none of these records with the exception of From Russia with Love were released as singles as far as I know, if they were they certainly didn’t chart, yet they were among his best loved songs.

Unfortunately, there was a side to Matt that he kept well hidden from the public and his many fans. He was a heavy social drinker and also a heavy smoker and battled alcoholism from the 1960s until 1981 He was however always the true professional and therefore his performances appeared unaffected by the effects of alcohol, despite the pleas from his friend and manager Don Black he continued to drink, so,  eventually and almost inevitably, his health suffered and he gave up drinking on doctor’s advice. He was diagnosed with cancer of the liver but continued working. Doctors suggested a liver transplant as a last resort to save him, but during the operation at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge it was discovered the cancer had spread widely and a transplant would have been pointless.

He died on the 7^th February 1985 at the Cromwell hospital in London at the age of just 54. His last performance had been a triumphant one at London’s recently opened Barbican Centre.

He left a son, Mitchell Terence Parsons whom he had with his first wife, Iris.

There were also two other children with Mickie: Michele (b. 1959) and Matthew Frederick (b. 21 February 1964).

Matt Monro was without doubt the best ever British singer of his time, His smooth baritone voice brought so much pleasure to so many millions worldwide, he is sadly missed by those fans and of course his family. Why he never had a No 1 hit has always baffled me, but then, thinking about it, he was one of the very few to survive the invasion of the Liverpool groups in the sixties. I personally felt that he still had so much to give but sadly it wasn’t to be.

There was a slight rise in new cases today which stood at 6220, the number of recorded deaths was 63.

Friday 26/03/2021 – Day 379

Had some slightly better news this morning, but otherwise, things continue as they did a week ago today. So apologies, but I’ll continue with my temporary diary.

On this day in 2006 From 6 a.m. the prohibition of smoking in all substantially enclosed public places came into force in Scotland.

Also on this day in 2015 Richard III, the only English monarch without a marked grave, was reinterred at Leicester Cathedral after much wrangling, including High Court action over his final resting place. Richard III’s body was buried in the now demolished Franciscan Friary in Leicester and was discovered in September 2012 under what had become a car park. From 28th March 2015 the area of Richard III’s tomb was open to the public. This funeral crown was commissioned by an historian who was involved in the dig that discovered Richard III’s remains. Leicester city Council agreed to waive the overdue charges Richard had accumulated over the years.

For the second time in a row the new cases were over 6000 and were recorded as 6187, there were 70 deaths registered.

Saturday 27/03/2021 -Day 380

On this day in 1880 The Salvation Army uniform was authorized, but the distinctive bonnets for women did not appear until June. This reminded me of the Saturday evenings spent in the local with Mrs H, inevitably the Sally army girl would come in clutching copies of The War Cry and The Young Soldier under her arm, most people in the pub willingly gave a donation but rarely took either of the newspapers, those that did would always leave them on the seat at home time..

Another regular on a Saturday night was the cockle man, punters would wait eagerly for him to appear carrying his wares in a large wicker basket, he would wear a white trilby and a pristine white coat that would give away the fact that he was meticulous in the selling of his seafood, people wouldn’t buy off a man who had a stained coat or no hat, so that basically was the uniform of the cockle man. He would have cockles, whelks, mussels, crab and even jellied eels, I was never a fan and won’t eat seafood to this day, even though I’ve never tried it!

Then there was the local entertainment, the chap you’d seen on a loom earlier in the week would suddenly turn up in a group to entertain you for the night, for a paltry ten pound each in most cases. Or that chap who emptied your dustbin just yesterday may turn up with his guitar and sing most of the night whilst perched precariously on a rickety wooden stool that threatened to collapse beneath him every time he reached out for his pint between sessions. Then of course there was the girl from the office who you never gave a second glance to as she passed you in the factory, suddenly, there she was in front of you, but you wouldn’t recognise her, because her make up was completely different and she was wearing a long blonde wig, gone were the dreary everyday clothes – all exchanged for an eye-catching gown which would put Shirley Bassey to shame.

I miss those wonderful smoke filled pubs and clubs on a Saturday night, especially since lockdown, the supermarkets are all going back to basics by returning to the corner shop syndrome, so why can’t these breweries go back to basics and bring back the old traditional boozers of the fifties and sixties.

There were 4715 further new cases today, the total for the week is 38759, a rise of 1308 on last weeks figures. The number of deaths registered was 451, this was 208 lower than last week. The number of recoveries has risen by 137,086 to 3.787,312.

Well, it’s been a torrid week for Mrs H and myself, hopefully we will have better news next week for you.

It’s been emotional.