Tony Monopoly (1944 - 21 March 1995) was a popular
AustralianAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
cabaretCabaret is a form of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue—a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance being introduced by a master of ceremonies, or MC.Cabaret...
singer and
actorAn actor or actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
who enjoyed success in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
.
Born Antonio Rosario Monopoli in
AdelaideAdelaide is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of South Australia, and is the fifth-largest city in Australia, with a population of more than 1.1 million. It is a coastal city situated on the eastern shores of Gulf St. Vincent, on the Adelaide Plains, north of the Fleurieu...
,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
, he was a regular on the national radio show
Kangaroos on Parade at the age of nine. At the age of sixteen he became a Carmelite
monkA monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, whilst always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
and remained in the order for five years. He was appearing at Caesar's Palace in
LutonLuton is a town and unitary authority of Bedfordshire, England, 32 miles north of London. Luton, along with its near neighbours of Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of over 230,000.Luton is home to non-league Luton Town Football Club, whose...
when he auditioned for
Opportunity KnocksOpportunity Knocks is a British television talent show originally hosted by Hughie Green.The original radio version started on the BBC Light Programme in the 1940s but moved to Radio Luxembourg in the 1950s. It was shown on ITV from 20 June, 1956 to 29 August, 1956, produced by Associated...
, a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
talent showA talent show is an event where contestants perform acting, singing, dancing, acrobatics,drumming, martial arts and other activities to showcase a unique form of talent, often for some sort of reward. Some very early known works include Shakespeare plays held in courtyards for the community to...
, which he won six consecutive times in the 1970s.
In a national pre-selection to choose the song that would go to the
Eurovision Song ContestThe Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...
held on 9 March 1977 at the
New London TheatreThe New London Theatre is a West End theatre located on the corners of Drury Lane and Parker Street in Covent Garden, in the London Borough of Camden.-History:...
, Monopoly earned 66 points and placed ninth with the tune "Leave a Little Love".
During the 1980s, he returned to the cabaret circuit playing
MancunianManchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. In 2007, the population of the city was estimated to be 458,100...
venues such as The Talk Of The North, The Willows and The Wendover Hotel.
In the early 1990s, Monopoly starred - in
dragDrag in its broadest sense means any clothing one wears. However, the traditional use of the term is for any costume or outfit that carries symbolic significance. This usually refers to the clothing associated with one gender role when worn by a person of the other gender...
- in
Moby DickMoby Dick is a musical with a book by Robert Longden, and music and lyrics by Longden and Hereward Kaye.A mixture of high camp, music hall-style smut, and wild anachronism overflowing with double entendres, the show focuses on the anarchic and nubile girls of St...
, the inaugural production at the newly-refurbished Old Fire Station Theatre in
OxfordOxford is a city, and the county town of Oxfordshire, in South East England. The city has a population of just under 165,000, with 151,000 living within the district boundary. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through Oxford and meet south of the city centre...
.
Tony Monopoly (1944 - 21 March 1995) was a popular
AustralianAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
cabaretCabaret is a form of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue—a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance being introduced by a master of ceremonies, or MC.Cabaret...
singer and
actorAn actor or actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
who enjoyed success in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
.
Born Antonio Rosario Monopoli in
AdelaideAdelaide is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of South Australia, and is the fifth-largest city in Australia, with a population of more than 1.1 million. It is a coastal city situated on the eastern shores of Gulf St. Vincent, on the Adelaide Plains, north of the Fleurieu...
,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
, he was a regular on the national radio show
Kangaroos on Parade at the age of nine. At the age of sixteen he became a Carmelite
monkA monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, whilst always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
and remained in the order for five years. He was appearing at Caesar's Palace in
LutonLuton is a town and unitary authority of Bedfordshire, England, 32 miles north of London. Luton, along with its near neighbours of Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of over 230,000.Luton is home to non-league Luton Town Football Club, whose...
when he auditioned for
Opportunity KnocksOpportunity Knocks is a British television talent show originally hosted by Hughie Green.The original radio version started on the BBC Light Programme in the 1940s but moved to Radio Luxembourg in the 1950s. It was shown on ITV from 20 June, 1956 to 29 August, 1956, produced by Associated...
, a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
talent showA talent show is an event where contestants perform acting, singing, dancing, acrobatics,drumming, martial arts and other activities to showcase a unique form of talent, often for some sort of reward. Some very early known works include Shakespeare plays held in courtyards for the community to...
, which he won six consecutive times in the 1970s.
In a national pre-selection to choose the song that would go to the
Eurovision Song ContestThe Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...
held on 9 March 1977 at the
New London TheatreThe New London Theatre is a West End theatre located on the corners of Drury Lane and Parker Street in Covent Garden, in the London Borough of Camden.-History:...
, Monopoly earned 66 points and placed ninth with the tune "Leave a Little Love".
During the 1980s, he returned to the cabaret circuit playing
MancunianManchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. In 2007, the population of the city was estimated to be 458,100...
venues such as The Talk Of The North, The Willows and The Wendover Hotel.
In the early 1990s, Monopoly starred - in
dragDrag in its broadest sense means any clothing one wears. However, the traditional use of the term is for any costume or outfit that carries symbolic significance. This usually refers to the clothing associated with one gender role when worn by a person of the other gender...
- in
Moby DickMoby Dick is a musical with a book by Robert Longden, and music and lyrics by Longden and Hereward Kaye.A mixture of high camp, music hall-style smut, and wild anachronism overflowing with double entendres, the show focuses on the anarchic and nubile girls of St...
, the inaugural production at the newly-refurbished Old Fire Station Theatre in
OxfordOxford is a city, and the county town of Oxfordshire, in South East England. The city has a population of just under 165,000, with 151,000 living within the district boundary. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through Oxford and meet south of the city centre...
. The show's success prompted
Cameron MackintoshSir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh is a British theatrical producer notable for his association with many commercially successful musicals. He is described as being "the most successful, influential and powerful theatrical producer in the world" by the New York Times...
to mount a 1992
West EndWest End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's "Theatreland". Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking world...
production that opened to scathing reviews and promptly closed, after which Monopoly portrayed
Old DeuteronomyOld Deuteronomy is a character in T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats and its musical adaptation, Cats.In Eliot's original poem, Old Deuteronomy is described as an ancient, wise cat who has "lived many lives in succession" and is respected by the other cats and humans in his...
in a UK tour of
CatsCats is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot. It introduced the song standard "Memory."...
.
Monooly died in
BrightonBrighton is a town in the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex on the south coast of Great Britain...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
on 21 March 1995, whilst visiting St Clare's,
BlackleyBlackley is an area of north Manchester, in North West England. It is about northeast of Manchester city centre, by a meander of the River Irk. To the north is Boggart Hole Clough and Middleton. Blackley is bisected by Rochdale Road, a major route to Manchester, and lies by the M60...
, where he had once been a monk.
External links