News
February 2025
Here’s wishing all our followers a very Happy and Healthy 2025 in our first update on the year.
As you get older time seems to fly even faster than in your twenties and thirties and I cannot believe that with all the kerfuffle of the lead up to Christmas it is already February and if I blink, I will be getting ready to put the Christmas lights up again, lol I literally would like someone to invent a ‘pause’ button so I could catch my breath occasionally.
A lovely surprise on Christmas Day was the showing of the new feature-length film ‘Vengeance Most Fowl’. The movie follows Top Dog Gromit as he springs into action to save his beloved owner when Wallace’s newest invention ‘the smart gnome’ goes rogue and he sees himself framed for crimes he didn’t commit. Dad can be heard singing ‘Born Free’ on the radio in the Gnome Improvements van after Feathers McGraw steals it. Fabulous and to add icing on the cake it as aired again on BBC on 3 January. If you missed it, you can watch it on BBC iPlayer or Netflix.
Thank you to all the fans who told me dad had featured in it as I’d missed it first time round. The thing is that the record companies don’t have to ask my permission to use dad’s music if they are approached by a third party so I rarely know about a project until it is a fait accompli. The exception are things like ‘Funny Woman’, which was aired on 9 February 2023. Halfway through the first episode the lead character goes to see Matt Monro at the Talk of the Town! Dads mentioned a few times and then he can be heard singing Walk Away. The production company had contacted me the year before for photographs and background material.
It’s that month again, which is the hardest of the year for me. Dad’s anniversary on 7 February marks 40 years. Cannot believe that he’s been gone more years that I got to spend with him. Then Mum’s anniversary on 25th. She left in 2010 and I cannot believe it is 15 years. In one way the time drags so slowly but then again, you blink, and the years have racked up. There isn’t a day that goes past that I don’t miss them both. As per my tradition I will be lighting candles on their ‘special’ day to remind myself that their light still burns brightly.
To mark dad’s anniversary Richard and I will be uploading a podcast on dad’s YouTube channel. We launched ‘Matt’s Kind of Podcast’ on dad’s birthday last year and we aim to do one a month. If you have a topic or question you would like to see covered then please email either Richard of myself and we’ll do out best to cover it.
Email address for the podcast is pod@mattmonro.com
The channel frequently features a rare television performance of dad and the channel still has all the ones you may have missed by not visiting yet. It’s all totally free and if you register, the site will send you a reminder every time something new is added.
Don’t forget to visit dad’s very own YouTube channel – https://www.youtube.com/c/MattMonroOfficial
Aviator, based in Hamburg, is the world leader in the location and enforcement of audio-visual rights and is the fast solution to deliver and monetize audio-visual premium digital products. Aviator sources, clears and releases digital premium content and creates complete VOD catalogues for its artists and clients. They have been looking after the channel for me since the launch in November 2020 so I was sad to hear this week that my main point of contact Lindsay is stepping down. He will be handing over to his colleague Christian Klabunde who will be our point of contact going forward. Christian is a music business veteran with decades of experience at both independent as well as major record companies working as a product manager so Lindsay is certain he will step into his shoes effortlessly and provide a seamless transition. Personally, I hate change but I will have to adapt but I wish Lindsay all the best in his future.
Since Covid when so many companies went out of business, including cruise lines you would think that certain brands would be doing their utmost to build their customer base instead of alienating them. I booked a holiday on P&O’s Arcadia on 1 April 2024 for this coming April as a birthday present to myself. I booked a cabin on Deck 8. I requested a mobility-on-board needs questionnaire, filled it in with the dimensions of the 3-wheeler scooter and the battery details. You will see from the picture that is folds flat and can go under the bed. Failing that the queen size bed cold be changed to two single beds and it could have been laid on top of one of the berths. I paid the deposit and everything was confirmed …. That is until they changed the goalposts.
In September of last year, I received an email from the company stating “Our updated policy requires any guest who brings a powered mobility device on board to be booked into a fully accessible cabin or selected Suite or Mini-suite. This is to make sure the powered mobility device can be stored in a place the crew can easily reach in the unlikely event of an emergency. Manual wheelchairs will still be accepted in all cabin types if they can fold into one piece that doesn’t exceed the following measurements: 50 cm in width, 100 cm in length and 23 kg in weight.”
I then received a phone call a couple of days later stating that they didn’t have any accessible cabins left but I could upgrade at a much higher cost or cancel without penalty. Here’s the rub. A solo passenger is not allowed an accessible cabin anyway. I sent a letter to Paul Ludlow, President at Carnival UK and P&O Cruises, which was immediately passed onto a customer services representative. I won’t bore you with all the details of the correspondence that went back and forth, but my main point that they had changed the goalposts and should honour my original booking as my scooter conformed to the rules of folding down into one piece. I have cruised for more than 40 years and have worked on ships for 16. I am constantly irked that large mobility scooters and electric wheelchairs are left in the hallways at night, which is against policy because of safety concerns, and rightly so, but nothing has ever been done about it. Not one passenger has been told to put their mobility aid in the cabin. But my booking didn’t encroach on that policy.
I was on Ambassador at the time of the emails and the customer service representative said she’s tried to ring me. I explained I was at sea and if she gave me her number, I would ring from one of the ports. No reply. I set a further three emails, no response. Nearly two months later, after being offered an upgrade to DECK ONE as a ‘gesture of goodwill’, I told the company to cancel my booking and refund my deposit. It was refused until I pointed out that on the original phone call in September, which is taped, I was offered a refund if I cancelled. I finally received a refund. I cannot understand that in this day and age, any company discriminates against a disabled traveller as well as solo ones but we are constantly getting a raw deal. Of course, they aplogised in their letter and stated “I have extended the Future Cruise Credit on your account for another year and I do hope you will be able to find something suitable, as it would be a pleasure to welcome you back on board again in the future.” I don’t know what planet they live on but I will never step foot on any P&O or Cunard ship again.
The same discrimination is taken against smokers. Whether you hate those passengers or not, they have paid the same fare if not considerably more to enjoy a cruise, whereas on some ships there isn’t a seated social area, and in some cases no cover. I’m sorry no passenger should have to stand outside, sometimes in unpleasant conditions, and be shunned on. I personally hate people who drink too much and suffer from bodily odour but they have the same rights as everyone else, except for smokers. I really don’t know why certain ships don’t ban it completely then there is no misunderstanding of what you will get when boarding a vessel. Certain ships that had a nice social space at the back of the ship board and find out it’s been taken away completely and they have been relegated to deck 15 or 16, with no tables, chairs or under-cover area. That at least should be pointed out at the time of the booking so people can make an informed decision. If you ask when inquiring about a cruise you are simply told there is ‘a designated space’. Not good enough. While I accept smokers are the lepers of our society, they have less than 5% of the ship. As I already mentioned any company has the right to make new rules but not after a booking has been made in good faith. If you don’t want to cater for smokers, disabled cruisers of solo travellers then don’t accept the booking.
Excitedly I am boarding Ambassador’s Ambience on 5 May (Treasures of the Mediterranean) and then staying on for a back-to-back working cruise which starts on 7 June (Midnight Sun Marvels). I would love to see some of you onboard and if you take the plunge do come up and say hello.
Apologies to everyone that came and asked me for one of my books on my last cruise but I was actually on holiday and only stepped in when someone went ill so I didn’t have any merchandise on me, but I promise I will take some merchandise this year. If you aren’t cruising on those dates but would still like one of the books then click above.
I know you’ve all heard this before but in light of a new Argentina interview dad did which has only just landed on our desks, please, please let us know if you have any rare footage, (even if you taped it illegally, lol), jingles or photos of dad. I ranted on for years on every radio interview I did trying to trace dad’s original Camay jingle and 18 years later a fan sent it in. Asking why she had held it back for so long, she replied “I thought you would already have it”.
While I can understand that in the old days recording shows by the public was difficult, I cannot believe that there is no recording of dad’s Barbican concert from 1985, one of the last he did. There are also dozens of jingles still to be found although they are hard to find as the artist is not accredited to the product. Richard and I have spent months and months listening to product jingles that we know that dad was involved in and we, well to be honest Richard, has found several over the years so come on all you diehard fans, take a look in your attics, even if you have reel tapes we have the equipment to listen to it. Fingers crossed.
At the moment there are no plans for a new album, although we have put some new compilations up to download on our YouTube channel. If you missed out on dad’s last album releases Stranger in Paradise: The Lost New York Sessions or The Complete EMI recordings 1971 – 1984, click on the link below. Stranger in Paradise went straight to the No 8 spot in the official album charts and stayed in the charts for six months. The first CD is brand new material recorded with just a five-piece band, which I have to say is now among my favourite albums. There is also a second disc with all of dad’s more familiar titles remastered of course by the fabulous Richard Moore, for any new fans of dad’s music.
Once again, I hope you have a happy and healthy year and I look forward to touching base with you all in March. In the meantime, stay safe and keep spreading the MM legacy.
Much love
Michele xx
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