0:00:02 > 0:00:07So...I can honestly say that from, let's say, 1953, '54, to 1995
0:00:07 > 0:00:12I did not give a single moment's thought to Edmundo Ros.
0:00:12 > 0:00:19'Like the rest of the world, nobody knew that Edmundo Ros still existed.'
0:00:19 > 0:00:21< Oh, hello!
0:00:21 > 0:00:26- It's Edmundo Ros!- Hello, my dear. - Hello, how are you?
0:00:26 > 0:00:30- Nice to see you.- Nice to see YOU! I used to listen you on the radio.
0:00:30 > 0:00:35- Nice to see that you're still alive! - Thank you very much.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39- Most people thing I am dead. - It must be dreadful.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42- Thank you so much.- Thank you.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45Nice. Nice old girl.
0:00:45 > 0:00:49But we have many like that. I still love them.
0:00:49 > 0:00:53But I tell them not to stop listening. Keep dancing.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07The legendary Latin bandleader Edmundo Ros
0:01:07 > 0:01:11is alive and well, living in retirement in Spain.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14Housewives' heart-throb,
0:01:14 > 0:01:20darling of the dancefloor, high society, the Decca record company and the BBC,
0:01:20 > 0:01:25Ros awakened post-war Britain to his unique samba beat.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30In the summer of 1995,
0:01:30 > 0:01:36Edmundo found himself being awarded the fellowship of the Royal Academy of Music,
0:01:36 > 0:01:39where he had been a student.
0:01:39 > 0:01:43Edmundo didn't receive the only fellowship that day.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47Next to him on the platform was the composer Michael Nyman.
0:01:47 > 0:01:52I was so shocked to be sitting next to him.
0:01:52 > 0:02:00I hadn't really thought about his music since I watched it on black and white TV in 1951, '52.
0:02:00 > 0:02:05In the first place, everyone was surprised he was still alive.
0:02:05 > 0:02:09He's 90 this year and still going strong.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13And equally surprised that he is an ex-Academy student.
0:02:13 > 0:02:17It was a very big day for me. I'll never forget that.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21And of course, what we had in common, as we discovered,
0:02:21 > 0:02:27was not merely the fact of being students of the Royal Academy,
0:02:27 > 0:02:32but we were both bandleaders. We had to deal with musicians.
0:02:35 > 0:02:41MUSIC CONTINUES OVER SPEECH
0:02:41 > 0:02:48'And we became good friends and this friendship lead to my pitching up at his house in Spain.
0:02:48 > 0:02:56'And this documentary is the result of our many and various conversations.'
0:02:56 > 0:03:01His is an amazing story, a story that our parents participated in
0:03:01 > 0:03:04and that I participated in as a kid.
0:03:04 > 0:03:09My mum would have thought working on a documentary with Edmundo
0:03:09 > 0:03:15was possibly the best thing I would have done as a musician!
0:03:15 > 0:03:22And it's the one thing that - as she would have said - she would have given her eye teeth to be part of.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25So...
0:03:25 > 0:03:29When I first started watching TV,
0:03:29 > 0:03:34the image that I have coming out of my television set
0:03:34 > 0:03:40is the image of you starting some event with your back to the camera,
0:03:40 > 0:03:44turning round, shaking your maracas, big smile on your face.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46APPLAUSE
0:03:46 > 0:03:50Thank you, and welcome to our show.
0:03:50 > 0:03:56We are having a lot of fun and we sincerely hope you are going to enjoy yourself too.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59SLOW LATIN PIECE PLAYS
0:03:59 > 0:04:07Edmundo Ros was born on the Caribbean island of Trinidad in 1910.
0:04:07 > 0:04:12The family moved to nearby Venezuela in 1924.
0:04:12 > 0:04:17From 14, I remembered myself in the Spanish speaking world,
0:04:17 > 0:04:20and Venezuela was that.
0:04:20 > 0:04:24And I stayed there until I was 27.
0:04:24 > 0:04:30Edmundo's father was a Scottish telephone engineer. His mother was from Trinidad.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33My father played in the village band.
0:04:33 > 0:04:37So I always liked music from the start.
0:04:37 > 0:04:42I used to play on the dustbins the rhythms of the drums.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46So I had a taste for music, but wasn't exposed to it
0:04:46 > 0:04:50until I was thrown into my military service.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53My parents thought I was going down the drain
0:04:53 > 0:04:58and decided I should have some discipline taught to me.
0:04:58 > 0:05:04Edmundo soon found himself playing in the military band.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07The band didn't play Latin American music.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11They played overtures and serenatas.
0:05:11 > 0:05:17All kinds of wonderful events, you'd be asked to play at -
0:05:17 > 0:05:22concerts, birthdays of the local governor and the president.
0:05:22 > 0:05:26When he left the army, Edmundo raised his musical status
0:05:26 > 0:05:31by becoming a timpanist in the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra.
0:05:31 > 0:05:37I wanted to be a conductor and to conduct an orchestra playing classical music.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41Here is a picture of the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45I suppose you can see me somewhere here.
0:05:45 > 0:05:50And these are some of our programmes.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53Why did you want to be a conductor?
0:05:53 > 0:05:58I suppose it was because I was ambitious, aiming high.
0:05:58 > 0:06:04But the stage there was not, at that time, big enough for me, I thought.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07I decided I would come to England.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11Inspired to study at the Royal Academy by his army band master,
0:06:11 > 0:06:18Edmundo set sail in May 1937. During the voyage, he received his first lesson in British etiquette.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21I was travelling second class.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25There was an English lady travelling first class
0:06:25 > 0:06:31who was allowed to take her constitutionals on both the decks.
0:06:31 > 0:06:35I got talking to her and she gave me a bit of advice.
0:06:35 > 0:06:41"In England, young man, vulgarity is despised."
0:06:44 > 0:06:46She said to me that,
0:06:46 > 0:06:51"You will find out that coloured people are considered inferior."
0:06:54 > 0:07:00And the moment I arrived in England, I discovered this lady was right.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04I wanted to be considered equal.
0:07:04 > 0:07:09In order to do that, you had to be able
0:07:09 > 0:07:13to command the respect of the person giving you it.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16I tried to learn how to do that
0:07:16 > 0:07:19and I think I did it.
0:07:19 > 0:07:26His plan to become an orchestral conductor was thrown off course on his first night in London.
0:07:26 > 0:07:31A woman he met in a dance invited him to a nightclub called The Nest.
0:07:31 > 0:07:36We are now entering the street, number 23. Not as it used to be.
0:07:36 > 0:07:41It used to be THE nightclub of that particular time.
0:07:42 > 0:07:48And this is where I appeared the very first night I landed in this country.
0:07:50 > 0:07:52The very first night.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56The fourth of June 1937.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59I was brought to this place,
0:07:59 > 0:08:04and there I met one of my colleagues to come - Barretto.
0:08:04 > 0:08:09Barretto started the first Latin American orchestra
0:08:09 > 0:08:13or rumba orchestra at that time.
0:08:18 > 0:08:23We played, Barretto and myself, I on drums and he on piano,
0:08:23 > 0:08:28and we all sang the Latin American songs. It went on all night.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31It was a fabulous place.
0:08:31 > 0:08:36But it was considered a place where people went slumming
0:08:36 > 0:08:40after coming from the nicer places in Mayfair.
0:08:40 > 0:08:46Over the next few years, Edmundo became Barretto's indispensable partner in the band.
0:08:46 > 0:08:50His talents did not go unnoticed.
0:08:50 > 0:08:56The jazz pianist Fats Waller chose him as drummer on his visits to London.
0:08:58 > 0:09:04Since arriving in England, Edmundo had been torn between the discipline of classical music
0:09:04 > 0:09:08and the fun of playing in Barretto's Latin band.
0:09:08 > 0:09:13You came to the Academy to be a classical musician and conductor,
0:09:13 > 0:09:16and then suddenly you weren't playing Mozart.
0:09:16 > 0:09:21You might say that I was leading a double life.
0:09:21 > 0:09:27In the day, I was studying one thing and at the night, doing another.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30I was on a losing wicket.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34Look at me and try and think of a classical conductor.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38A - I didn't have a fancy name.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41B - I didn't have a funny moustache.
0:09:41 > 0:09:47C - Didn't come from Vienna or Prague or one of these places.
0:09:47 > 0:09:52- Looking like me.- Didn't have a white skin.- Exactly. Get it?
0:09:52 > 0:09:54Have you seen one? I haven't.
0:09:59 > 0:10:04I had been in England two years and the war started.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08I hate to say it but I had a damned good time during the war.
0:10:09 > 0:10:16But Edmundo's collaboration with Don Marino Barretto was not to last.
0:10:16 > 0:10:22They fell out because Edmundo felt that his talents were not sufficiently recognised.
0:10:22 > 0:10:27For a while, Ros drove ambulances. But the pull of music was too much.
0:10:27 > 0:10:33In August 1940, he formed Edmundo Ros And His Rumba Band.
0:10:33 > 0:10:38It was an overnight success in the wartime West End.
0:10:38 > 0:10:43Edmundo's first record with Parlophone was an instant hit.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51RUMBA TUNE PLAYS
0:11:01 > 0:11:03SIREN WAILS
0:11:03 > 0:11:07NEWSREEL: The nightly siege of London has begun.
0:11:07 > 0:11:12We were offered an engagement at the St Regis Hotel.
0:11:12 > 0:11:16In that hotel, we had a direct hit.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22The tune we were playing was called Taboo.
0:11:22 > 0:11:27And I've always associated that with the direct hit.
0:11:33 > 0:11:38Happily for all concerned, it did not explode - the bomb.
0:11:38 > 0:11:40But everybody ran out of the hotel
0:11:40 > 0:11:45and we then ran into the nearest air-raid shelter
0:11:45 > 0:11:48which was the club the Coconut Grove.
0:11:48 > 0:11:54The club was one of the most fashionable night spots in London,
0:11:54 > 0:11:59the venue that would put Edmundo into the limelight.
0:11:59 > 0:12:06Once again, it was a chance encounter with a young woman that helped him get what he wanted.
0:12:06 > 0:12:10While standing there, a young lady came up to me and said,
0:12:10 > 0:12:15"Why don't we have a smile on that face of yours?"
0:12:15 > 0:12:20And this lady turned out to be the owner of the Coconut Grove.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23Her name was Diana Ward.
0:12:23 > 0:12:28And I told her I would do anything on Earth to have somewhere to play.
0:12:28 > 0:12:33Diana Ward then made Edmundo an offer he couldn't refuse.
0:12:33 > 0:12:38If he'd play for less than she paid her band, he could take their place.
0:12:41 > 0:12:46So we started at the Coconut Grove and went from strength to strength.
0:12:46 > 0:12:51It was while he was playing at the Coconut Grove
0:12:51 > 0:12:56that Diana Ward introduced him to Cecil Madden,
0:12:56 > 0:12:58a powerful impresario from the BBC.
0:12:58 > 0:13:03This meeting was to change the course of Edmundo's life.
0:13:03 > 0:13:09Mr Madden was the first producer of television in England,
0:13:09 > 0:13:13which started in 1936.
0:13:13 > 0:13:19During the war, when it stopped, he took over the Overseas Service
0:13:19 > 0:13:22which was called London Calling.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25 Ulrich is a navigator in a bomber.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28'It was a recruiting effort.'
0:13:28 > 0:13:30HE SPEAKS IN SPANISH
0:13:30 > 0:13:36'The BBC Overseas studios, which operated at night,
0:13:36 > 0:13:40'were in the Criterion Theatre in Piccadilly.'
0:13:40 > 0:13:45Every time an artist couldn't come here because of incendiary bombs,
0:13:45 > 0:13:48we took the place of that artist.
0:13:48 > 0:13:53At the drop of a hat, or the drop of a telephone call,
0:13:53 > 0:13:59we would run down from there, six of us, and run right into the studio there.
0:13:59 > 0:14:05That is where we started broadcasting to Latin America on behalf of the BBC.
0:14:05 > 0:14:09The programme was called London Calling.
0:14:09 > 0:14:14Edmundo's broadcasts for the BBC Overseas Service
0:14:14 > 0:14:18marked the beginning of his long association with Cecil Madden.
0:14:18 > 0:14:24Quite soon, Edmundo had become a regular fixture on BBC radio.
0:14:25 > 0:14:31The BBC in a way created an audience in the '30s and '40s for dance music.
0:14:31 > 0:14:36Night after night, there would be Jack Payne, Joe Loss, whatever.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39So in a way, your music gained from the fact that
0:14:39 > 0:14:45there was a deliberate policy within the BBC to make a social engineering
0:14:45 > 0:14:51that it was good to sit around the radio and be entertained by dance music.
0:14:51 > 0:14:56That is why I regard myself a product of the BBC.
0:14:58 > 0:15:03By the end of the war, Edmundo's career had really begun to take off.
0:15:03 > 0:15:07With radio broadcasts, booming record sales,
0:15:07 > 0:15:11club appearances and a stint at the London Palladium,
0:15:11 > 0:15:16he found himself well on the way to celebrity status.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19I started becoming Edmundo Ros in 1946.
0:15:19 > 0:15:24Before that, I was just a little rumba band leader.
0:15:24 > 0:15:29But gradually, I became Edmundo Ros from the Bagatelle.
0:15:29 > 0:15:34The Bagatelle restaurant was more prestigious than the Coconut Grove.
0:15:34 > 0:15:41It was situated in central Mayfair, rather than on the edges of disreputable Soho
0:15:41 > 0:15:47and it boasted the high-class clientele that Edmundo thought he was cut out for.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50And this was our entrance.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54- That used to be the Bagatelle. - Really?
0:15:54 > 0:15:59Yes. We had the best people on the face of the Earth then here,
0:15:59 > 0:16:03starting with our present Queen.
0:16:03 > 0:16:09She danced here for the first, first time in her life in public.
0:16:09 > 0:16:15Very nice. I wish I could have invited you to come but too late!
0:16:15 > 0:16:20The future Queen, however, very nearly didn't show up.
0:16:20 > 0:16:27Edmundo had been caught out in an adulterous affair with the wife of a diplomat.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30I got involved in a society scandal
0:16:30 > 0:16:34that did me no harm at all!
0:16:34 > 0:16:40In fact, I came out as being a "good sort", you know,
0:16:40 > 0:16:47and "inside the pale" - that sort of nice remarks that you chaps use.
0:16:47 > 0:16:52I was involved in divorce proceedings with a society lady.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55Her husband found her with somebody else
0:16:55 > 0:17:01but unfortunately he had heard of her being friendly with me before.
0:17:01 > 0:17:08He did not only sue this particular gentleman, but also your humble servant.
0:17:08 > 0:17:14Although I was not culprit number one, I was fined £1,000,
0:17:14 > 0:17:16which was an awful lot of money.
0:17:19 > 0:17:26After this, people came to the Bagatelle and I used to see them pointing at me.
0:17:26 > 0:17:33And then one night, a lady said to me, "Are you the fellow who was mixed up in this case?"
0:17:33 > 0:17:36I said, "Yes, madame."
0:17:36 > 0:17:39"Did you no harm at all, did it?"
0:17:39 > 0:17:42I said, "Not at all because you know why?
0:17:42 > 0:17:47"I feel that if ever you are going to be run over by a motor car,
0:17:47 > 0:17:50"let it be a Rolls Royce."
0:17:50 > 0:17:55And she thought that was very clever. So did I, at the time!
0:17:55 > 0:18:01That started me off by being a gentleman.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06That's what people used to call me - a gentleman.
0:18:06 > 0:18:10You stop being a bandleader and you become a personality,
0:18:10 > 0:18:16a gentleman. That's the greatest satisfaction you can get in England.
0:18:16 > 0:18:21At the end of this case, which lasted 11 days,
0:18:21 > 0:18:24the Palace booked a table
0:18:24 > 0:18:27for Princess Elizabeth.
0:18:27 > 0:18:32And the people at the Bagatelle were very concerned that the mother
0:18:32 > 0:18:34would allow her daughter
0:18:34 > 0:18:39to come into a room with this dreadful, gravel-voiced man.
0:18:39 > 0:18:45And, of course, the Bagatelle tried to get rid of me before she came.
0:18:47 > 0:18:49Yes?
0:18:49 > 0:18:51Having booked the table,
0:18:51 > 0:18:58had she not come for any reason or other, Edmundo Ros would have died a natural death.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02But she came, danced and actually spoke to me,
0:19:02 > 0:19:07and with all these hundreds of people watching.
0:19:07 > 0:19:12And from there on, Edmundo was a personal friend of the Queen.
0:19:13 > 0:19:18Edmundo's charmed seduction of the establishment continued
0:19:18 > 0:19:23when, in 1948, he met his future wife Britt.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26This wife came to me
0:19:26 > 0:19:28at the right time in my life.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33This girl was a Swedish aristocrat.
0:19:33 > 0:19:38And when she chose to marry me,
0:19:38 > 0:19:41she brought me up,
0:19:41 > 0:19:44not only in Scandinavia,
0:19:44 > 0:19:48but everywhere...in the world.
0:19:48 > 0:19:53She was...a very good business deal.
0:19:53 > 0:19:57- MUSIC PLAYS - This is the Wedding Samba!
0:20:02 > 0:20:07As Edmundo was becoming more and more acceptable to high society,
0:20:07 > 0:20:11he was also developing a huge popular audience.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13# In the land of the Rio Grande
0:20:13 > 0:20:17# When people get married, they always have a dance... #
0:20:17 > 0:20:24'The Wedding Samba became one of my best sellers ever.'
0:20:24 > 0:20:26# Ole, ole... #
0:20:26 > 0:20:31In 1949, the Wedding Samba sold three million copies worldwide
0:20:31 > 0:20:34and it got people dancing.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37# And when they play the Wedding Samba... #
0:20:37 > 0:20:41'The samba creates a rhythm and a movement
0:20:41 > 0:20:44'that British people appreciate.
0:20:44 > 0:20:49'The essence of it is to abandon yourself, so to speak.'
0:20:49 > 0:20:53# Everyone knows in fiesta time... #
0:20:53 > 0:20:57British chaps, ladies and gentlemen,
0:20:57 > 0:21:02were shy to do anything that could cause them to be in ridicule.
0:21:02 > 0:21:08Music is sex from the start, however you play it.
0:21:08 > 0:21:13But the average person who doesn't want to make a fool of themselves
0:21:13 > 0:21:15is cautious about how it's done.
0:21:15 > 0:21:20Edmundo used to invite the audience on the floor and say,
0:21:20 > 0:21:25"Don't be shy," because he could pull people on the floor.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28And he did it and they danced!
0:21:28 > 0:21:35A string of record hits now enabled Edmundo to fulfil his dream of buying a club.
0:21:35 > 0:21:42In 1951, he made a triumphant return to the Coconut Grove, but this time he was the owner.
0:21:42 > 0:21:47We are now at Mitre House, 177 Regent Street,
0:21:47 > 0:21:50which used to be MY club.
0:21:50 > 0:21:55I owned this place for years and years and years.
0:21:55 > 0:21:59We had a porter all dressed up in green and... Oh, yes.
0:21:59 > 0:22:05And the moment you got here, you could hear the music.
0:22:05 > 0:22:11Edmundo called his new venture the Edmundo Ros Supper Club.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14It was a high-class establishment
0:22:14 > 0:22:19that sophisticated people could drop into after a show.
0:22:20 > 0:22:25My club was an unusual sort of place
0:22:25 > 0:22:28because normally, naturally,
0:22:28 > 0:22:32nightclubs are referred to in your dictionaries
0:22:32 > 0:22:35as dens of iniquity.
0:22:35 > 0:22:39Like running a brothel, if you get what I mean.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43That is what nightclubs used to be for.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49I didn't do that. It was absolutely the reverse.
0:22:49 > 0:22:54I didn't let people in unless they were properly dressed.
0:22:54 > 0:23:00If anyone breached the canon of decent behaviour, old boy,
0:23:00 > 0:23:04whether it was dress code or whatever,
0:23:04 > 0:23:07he was absolutely horrified.
0:23:07 > 0:23:13He wanted people to come and enjoy themselves. When Edmundo came on,
0:23:13 > 0:23:16dressed to the hilt, with the band,
0:23:16 > 0:23:21everyone was anticipating this wonderful personality and music,
0:23:21 > 0:23:24and everyone started to dance.
0:23:24 > 0:23:31I considered myself as an orchestra leader, owner and conductor,
0:23:31 > 0:23:35who had a nightclub in which it played.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38# ..Have a go, don't be slow... #
0:23:38 > 0:23:42Any orchestra has to have somebody in front of it.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46They loved him because he was unique.
0:23:46 > 0:23:50There wasn't another man with that kind of presence.
0:23:50 > 0:23:52'Remember, he was six foot three.'
0:23:52 > 0:23:55# The Mayfair Mambo
0:23:55 > 0:24:00# Tally-ho, tally-ho, tally-ho... #
0:24:00 > 0:24:06He was a disciplinarian. You couldn't get away with anything.
0:24:06 > 0:24:12If I said the show starts at four o'clock, it starts at four, because I am there.
0:24:12 > 0:24:17He had eyes in the back of his head. While he was on the bandstand,
0:24:17 > 0:24:21he used to watch the waiter that didn't serve properly,
0:24:21 > 0:24:26and if the serviette wasn't properly on the table, it was noticed.
0:24:29 > 0:24:34Quite often, he'd be singing a song with the band
0:24:34 > 0:24:38and he'd stop singing in the middle of it and just point.
0:24:38 > 0:24:46Just like that. And all the staff would run where he was pointing. They didn't know what for.
0:24:46 > 0:24:50That's cos he was always watching his clientele.
0:24:50 > 0:24:57Whenever he saw anybody who needed attention or service, they just went to where he was pointing.
0:24:59 > 0:25:04He would also be extremely strict about who came to his club.
0:25:04 > 0:25:11I did my best to divide the right people from the not-so-right people -
0:25:11 > 0:25:15what you might refer to as the "cor blimeys".
0:25:15 > 0:25:19They were paying for these people over here,
0:25:19 > 0:25:24who often had things complimentary, because they were there.
0:25:24 > 0:25:31The records were available to anybody. The popular tunes made them popular with the "cor blimeys".
0:25:31 > 0:25:37It's an awful word. The "cor blimeys" paid the money for the records more than the royals did.
0:25:37 > 0:25:44Society didn't buy my records. They danced to the tunes, and I made them presents of my records.
0:25:44 > 0:25:52But the people who kept me in bread and butter were the people who I didn't want to go to bed with.
0:25:52 > 0:25:54But you have to accept it.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57MAN: Ouch!
0:25:57 > 0:26:02It was these people who fuelled the passion for ballroom dancing
0:26:02 > 0:26:05that swept Britain in the 1950s.
0:26:05 > 0:26:12ARCHIVE: It takes all sorts to fill a dance hall. You can take the dance floor with the weekly half million.
0:26:12 > 0:26:17The mass popularity of ballroom dancing helped sell records.
0:26:17 > 0:26:24Records became important because you couldn't go to a ballroom every five minutes
0:26:24 > 0:26:26to find what you wanted to dance to.
0:26:26 > 0:26:33Nor could you afford to go to Edmundo Ros' club every night. That was a Saturday night special.
0:26:33 > 0:26:37ARCHIVE: Do-it-yourself has spread to teaching dancing.
0:26:37 > 0:26:42All ready? With gramophone records by Victor Silvester.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46- GRAMOPHONE:- 'Ready? Now. Back, back...'
0:26:46 > 0:26:51The king of ballroom dancing was without a doubt Victor Silvester.
0:26:51 > 0:26:5830 years ago, people would go to a ballroom and dance more or less what they liked.
0:26:58 > 0:27:04Edmundo followed the sort of things that he did, and became friendly with him.
0:27:04 > 0:27:10When it came to ordinary dance music for ballrooms, Victor was the king.
0:27:10 > 0:27:16When it came to adding a little Latin rhythm, they'd invite Edmundo.
0:27:16 > 0:27:21The great piece of advice which Victor Silvester gave to me,
0:27:21 > 0:27:26is, let them hear the melody, let them hear the melody.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30The rhythm is fine, but our people want to hear the melody.
0:27:30 > 0:27:34I always thanked him for that.
0:27:34 > 0:27:40Colonel Bogey, you see. Colonel Bogey fitted beautifully as a samba,
0:27:40 > 0:27:47but it also fitted beautifully as another Latin American rhythm called the merengue.
0:27:47 > 0:27:53That also fitted beautifully as a merengue - Colonel Bogey.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59HE HUMS A MERENGUE RHYTHM
0:27:59 > 0:28:02HE HUMS: "Colonel Bogey"
0:28:02 > 0:28:07It fits. The background rhythm was the rhythm of the merengue.
0:28:08 > 0:28:16Until the early '50s, most people only knew Edmundo Ros by the distinctive sound of his music.
0:28:16 > 0:28:22But in 1953, the BBC started televising live shows from his club, and he gained a face.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26Overnight, he became a national personality.
0:28:26 > 0:28:31Records brought me into your home, but television let you see me.
0:28:31 > 0:28:35You either turned it off or put it on brighter.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38I didn't think much of it at the time.
0:28:38 > 0:28:43But I grew to appreciate that it was the number one thing.
0:28:45 > 0:28:50You are looking at a film entitled Television Tea Party.
0:28:50 > 0:28:56This is a tea party that was given to mark the change of location
0:28:56 > 0:28:58of British television
0:28:58 > 0:29:04from Alexandra Palace to Lime Grove, or White City.
0:29:04 > 0:29:10I am pleased to tell you that I was nominated the host of this party.
0:29:13 > 0:29:17They invited 800 guests.
0:29:17 > 0:29:23Everybody in the entertainment industry of any importance was there.
0:29:23 > 0:29:27Mr Madden was in charge of the whole thing.
0:29:27 > 0:29:32ARCHIVE: 'Cecil Madden greets the Beverly Sisters affectionately.
0:29:32 > 0:29:35'Cecil Madden discovered them.'
0:29:35 > 0:29:41Most of the artists you'd see performing at this were discovered by Cecil Madden.
0:29:41 > 0:29:44The Beverly Sisters.
0:29:44 > 0:29:48# I feel ever so
0:29:48 > 0:29:52# Blue. #
0:29:52 > 0:29:57'Cecil Madden gave me every possible help
0:29:57 > 0:30:00'and virtually made Edmundo Ross.'
0:30:00 > 0:30:04Darlings, I should say - all three of you.
0:30:04 > 0:30:09WIRELESS: 'The time is nine o'clock. Time for Housewives' Choice.'
0:30:09 > 0:30:12THEME MUSIC
0:30:16 > 0:30:23At one time, I was a permanent presenter of a BBC programme called Housewives' Choice.
0:30:23 > 0:30:25I used to spend nights on end
0:30:25 > 0:30:30going straight from the club into the BBC studio,
0:30:30 > 0:30:34sleeping there until Housewives' Choice to play these programmes
0:30:34 > 0:30:40to people all over the country asking for songs and records,
0:30:40 > 0:30:43and having their name mentioned by me.
0:30:43 > 0:30:48Occasionally, they'd ask for one of mine, which pleased me.
0:30:48 > 0:30:52In order to convey what I wanted to say to people, say, in Scunthorpe,
0:30:52 > 0:30:57or Worcester, I had to learn how to say it properly.
0:30:57 > 0:31:01You sought out an individual.
0:31:01 > 0:31:07When I spoke to the microphone, it was to a nice-looking girl.
0:31:07 > 0:31:11The more you looked at the microphone, the more you saw her.
0:31:11 > 0:31:16You spoke to her as nicely as possible, in order to impress her.
0:31:16 > 0:31:19That's how I did Housewives' Choice,
0:31:19 > 0:31:23particularly as I knew that every request came from a female.
0:31:23 > 0:31:30Now, Mrs Jones, who lives at number 14 Ebury Street in "Scumpton-on-Sea",
0:31:30 > 0:31:33this is for you.
0:31:33 > 0:31:39Edmundo's celebrity had brought him an affluent lifestyle, and he was proud of it.
0:31:39 > 0:31:41# I cannot complain
0:31:41 > 0:31:43# Of the time that I have spent
0:31:43 > 0:31:46# Because my life in London is really magnificent
0:31:46 > 0:31:48# I have every comfort and every thrill
0:31:48 > 0:31:51# And I have a hell of a big house up in Mill Hill
0:31:51 > 0:31:54# This is the place for me. #
0:31:54 > 0:31:57EDMUNDO LAUGHS
0:31:57 > 0:32:04In 1955, Edmundo and his wife commissioned an architect to design them a luxurious house
0:32:04 > 0:32:07on an empty site in north London.
0:32:07 > 0:32:11We had 19 rooms. We had a television room, a little office,
0:32:11 > 0:32:17a sitting room, dining room, rooms for the children, guest rooms,
0:32:17 > 0:32:20and also rooms for the staff.
0:32:20 > 0:32:24In those days, I could afford staff. I had living-in staff.
0:32:24 > 0:32:29I had a char woman and I had a driver.
0:32:29 > 0:32:33I had all the best of everything.
0:32:35 > 0:32:39I had the best clothes, the best food. I had everything.
0:32:39 > 0:32:44I had a Cadillac and I had a number, my own -
0:32:44 > 0:32:47EWR1.
0:32:47 > 0:32:52I was very proud of it. A big Cadillac El Dorado.
0:32:52 > 0:32:56Every time I stopped next to a bus at the red light,
0:32:56 > 0:33:02the driver would say, "Hello, Curly, what the hell have you got there?"
0:33:02 > 0:33:07That was enough. I thought, if they don't like it, I'll get rid of it.
0:33:07 > 0:33:09I got rid of it.
0:33:09 > 0:33:12I sold it to Diana Dors.
0:33:12 > 0:33:14With class,
0:33:14 > 0:33:18you can command respect.
0:33:18 > 0:33:21With colour, you have no choice.
0:33:21 > 0:33:25The colour, you have that whether you like it or not,
0:33:25 > 0:33:28which I am pleased to be.
0:33:28 > 0:33:35I am pleased to be, but I wish I had had the other birth arrangement, you know.
0:33:35 > 0:33:39I'm not black, if you know what I mean. But I'm not white.
0:33:39 > 0:33:43I can see them thinking, "Who does he think he is?"
0:33:43 > 0:33:48But the advantage is that most of them never said it.
0:33:51 > 0:33:55- ARCHIVE:- 'The clouds disappeared.
0:33:55 > 0:33:57'We'd arrived.
0:33:57 > 0:34:01'Monaco - minks, diamonds, Cadillacs.
0:34:01 > 0:34:04'The millionaires' playground - Monte Carlo.
0:34:04 > 0:34:09'This is a gala night. This was the atmosphere every evening.'
0:34:09 > 0:34:15We played there every summer for nine consecutive summers -
0:34:15 > 0:34:17the sporting club in Monte Carlo.
0:34:17 > 0:34:21That man you see standing next to me is Mr Onassis.
0:34:21 > 0:34:29That party was a party at which I was made to feel more uncomfortable than at any other time in my life.
0:34:29 > 0:34:33Onassis is a Greek. His wife is a Greek.
0:34:33 > 0:34:39A Greek composer wrote a song for her,
0:34:39 > 0:34:41about her.
0:34:41 > 0:34:44Onassis sent this song to me
0:34:44 > 0:34:48and asked me to arrange it, record it,
0:34:48 > 0:34:51and present it to her from him.
0:34:51 > 0:34:55- ARCHIVE:- 'The day after I arrived, I had a special job to do.
0:34:55 > 0:35:00'We hired a speedboat to take us to the Onassis yacht.
0:35:00 > 0:35:03'Hold on tight!
0:35:03 > 0:35:08'The captain welcomed us aboard and showed us the way forward...'
0:35:08 > 0:35:10The captain tells me,
0:35:10 > 0:35:17"Mr Onassis asked me to extend to you his most humble apologies and regrets he had to dash off,
0:35:17 > 0:35:22"to a business meeting, and he's not here to receive you."
0:35:22 > 0:35:29There were certain people he admired. Onassis being up there,
0:35:29 > 0:35:33and Edmundo being on his motor boat,
0:35:33 > 0:35:40visiting the Onassis yacht, I don't think he'd have been prepared for what is rank bad behaviour.
0:35:40 > 0:35:44We went to the club that night with the record.
0:35:44 > 0:35:48He came over to the bandstand and said, "Have you got it?"
0:35:48 > 0:35:52I said, "Yes, sir." "Well, bring it to the table."
0:35:52 > 0:35:55He was a rough fellow. "Bring it to the table."
0:35:55 > 0:35:59When I came off, I took it to the table.
0:35:59 > 0:36:04"This is the record for your wife." "Give it to her. There she is."
0:36:04 > 0:36:07So I took it to the wife.
0:36:07 > 0:36:13While she was about to accept it, he stood behind me and shouted,
0:36:13 > 0:36:18"Go on! Get up and kiss him! You know you've always wanted to!"
0:36:18 > 0:36:21I nearly died, honestly.
0:36:21 > 0:36:26But I handed her the record, bowed in the usual way,
0:36:26 > 0:36:31and came away feeling most uncomfortable, I might tell you.
0:36:34 > 0:36:39By the late 1950s, the years of relentless and single-minded hard work
0:36:39 > 0:36:44were putting Edmundo's marriage under severe strain.
0:36:46 > 0:36:51I had to give all my time and attention to my work,
0:36:51 > 0:36:55which didn't stop only with the orchestra.
0:36:55 > 0:36:59It went on with the records and broadcasts
0:36:59 > 0:37:04and the club, of course, took the night time.
0:37:04 > 0:37:05# Play, play, play... #
0:37:05 > 0:37:10My wife took umbrage
0:37:10 > 0:37:14at the fact that I loved my orchestra, loved my work.
0:37:14 > 0:37:17# By relaxing anywhere
0:37:17 > 0:37:18# Outdoors, in the open air
0:37:18 > 0:37:20# You'll find again that two can share
0:37:20 > 0:37:22# And play, play, play... #
0:37:22 > 0:37:25I introduced her to someone who came to the club.
0:37:25 > 0:37:29# Guaranteed to make you need a doctor every day
0:37:29 > 0:37:32# Don't be that way... #
0:37:32 > 0:37:37He was a very good dancer. She was a very good dancer.
0:37:37 > 0:37:41It became quite a thing at the club for people to see them dancing.
0:37:41 > 0:37:45One morning, quite casually, at breakfast,
0:37:45 > 0:37:49she said to me, just as I'm talking to you,
0:37:49 > 0:37:53"I would like you to know that one of your friends
0:37:53 > 0:37:57"has asked me to marry him."
0:37:57 > 0:38:03I said, "Really?" I said, "Give me one guess and I will tell you who it is.
0:38:03 > 0:38:10I told her who it was. She was pleased I'd recognised the fact that it was happening.
0:38:10 > 0:38:15I put it down to the fact that he danced her out of my life.
0:38:15 > 0:38:21I was hurt because I felt that if anybody was going to leave anybody,
0:38:21 > 0:38:24I should have left her,
0:38:24 > 0:38:26not her me.
0:38:27 > 0:38:33Terrible. And coupled with the fact that while this was going on
0:38:33 > 0:38:37I was doing broadcasts,
0:38:37 > 0:38:41having to sing these silly love songs.
0:38:41 > 0:38:43Get it?
0:38:43 > 0:38:49Fancy trying to sing a song like Come Closer To Me when your wife has left you. Not funny!
0:38:49 > 0:38:52# Will you sit, sit upon my knee?
0:38:52 > 0:38:54# Si, senor, si, senor
0:38:54 > 0:38:56# Give a little kiss to me?
0:38:56 > 0:38:58# No, senor, no, senor
0:38:58 > 0:39:00# For I never kiss a man
0:39:01 > 0:39:04# Till my mother says I can
0:39:05 > 0:39:09- # May I hold, hold you very tight? - Si, senor, si, senor... #
0:39:09 > 0:39:12I accepted it.
0:39:12 > 0:39:17I accepted it for three years before everything else happened.
0:39:17 > 0:39:21She left me in '63,
0:39:21 > 0:39:26and I did not meet Susan until '66 - three years later.
0:39:26 > 0:39:29Mind you, I had fun between those.
0:39:29 > 0:39:33I enjoyed myself like mad. I did everything.
0:39:33 > 0:39:36# Just what my momma told me of... #
0:39:36 > 0:39:44When the 55-year-old Edmundo first met his 21-year-old wife to be, Susan, in the mid-sixties,
0:39:44 > 0:39:48she didn't know who he was - she was part of the Beatles generation.
0:39:48 > 0:39:51# Si, si, senor. #
0:39:51 > 0:39:58Just as in the 1950s Decca had encouraged Edmundo to Latinise music familiar to his audience,
0:39:58 > 0:40:04they pressed him to give the Ros treatment to pop music.
0:40:04 > 0:40:08Here we have New Sounds On Broadway.
0:40:08 > 0:40:14These are all Broadway melodies from Broadway shows.
0:40:14 > 0:40:18This sold very well indeed in the United States.
0:40:18 > 0:40:25Beatles songs. Hey Jude - that's another one that I did very well indeed.
0:40:25 > 0:40:30I realised there'd be some lucre, so I did it.
0:40:30 > 0:40:37I survived because I made myself adaptable to all the changes that came and went.
0:40:39 > 0:40:43Decca knew they had a milch cow on their hands.
0:40:43 > 0:40:48They realised here was a man who could make massive amounts of money,
0:40:48 > 0:40:51for himself and the record company.
0:40:51 > 0:40:57Instead of giving him his freedom, they restricted his freedom.
0:40:57 > 0:41:02I was told what to do, so I had to do it. I didn't enjoy everything.
0:41:02 > 0:41:08Some of my records I don't like at all because the words are babble.
0:41:08 > 0:41:13But it suited the market. As they sold, they asked me to do more.
0:41:13 > 0:41:19One of the craziest albums we did was Japanese military marches.
0:41:19 > 0:41:24We did it because the Japanese public
0:41:24 > 0:41:27liked the Edmundo Ros Orchestra.
0:41:27 > 0:41:31He went to Japan seven times on tour.
0:41:31 > 0:41:35He had tremendous success, huge concerts -
0:41:35 > 0:41:38so packed that they couldn't get people in.
0:41:38 > 0:41:43INSTRUMENTAL: SWINGING JAPANESE MILITARY MARCH
0:41:52 > 0:42:00The welcome was tremendous. It was another world.
0:42:00 > 0:42:05I filmed the whole thing, cos I thought we'd never go back.
0:42:05 > 0:42:09One town every day, until the day we left.
0:42:09 > 0:42:12We did that for seven years.
0:42:12 > 0:42:18Ironically, the very success of these tours incubated a problem.
0:42:18 > 0:42:21By the time we finished the last tour,
0:42:21 > 0:42:24my conditions were that good
0:42:24 > 0:42:29that we did not travel on our rest day.
0:42:30 > 0:42:36Our promoter wanted us to go back to play again on that day.
0:42:36 > 0:42:41He suggested that I offered my musicians more money, and they'd go.
0:42:43 > 0:42:45I thought, no. Didn't go.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48Wouldn't go. No, sir!
0:42:48 > 0:42:54I wouldn't break my contract. We were all tired, on our way home.
0:42:54 > 0:43:00But Edmundo's promoter was negotiating with someone else in the band.
0:43:00 > 0:43:06Unfortunately for me, he spoke to the musicians
0:43:06 > 0:43:08through our steward.
0:43:08 > 0:43:13They all agreed to go for additional money.
0:43:13 > 0:43:18When he realises this monster he's created is turning against him,
0:43:18 > 0:43:22in the form of Musicians' Union stewards
0:43:22 > 0:43:29and musicians not wanting to avail themselves
0:43:29 > 0:43:32of the very protections,
0:43:32 > 0:43:34in terms of rest and travel days,
0:43:34 > 0:43:37that Edmundo had got for them,
0:43:37 > 0:43:42characteristically for Edmundo, he said, "That's it."
0:43:42 > 0:43:47The moment my musicians told me that that was the condition,
0:43:47 > 0:43:52I said that is the end of the Edmundo Ros Orchestra.
0:43:52 > 0:43:54Finished.
0:43:55 > 0:44:00When we got back to London, we did a concert at Fairfields Hall.
0:44:00 > 0:44:06I got Susan to ring all the people that I wanted to come to my final concert.
0:44:06 > 0:44:09I should be very sad, but I'm not.
0:44:09 > 0:44:11Two, three, four...
0:44:16 > 0:44:19Fairfields Hall was packed,
0:44:19 > 0:44:21with people almost in tears.
0:44:22 > 0:44:28I made it clear at the concert to the orchestra
0:44:28 > 0:44:32that they and their wives would be invited to join me for dinner.
0:44:36 > 0:44:41Although I realised that they suspected something,
0:44:41 > 0:44:45they did not know what was really going to happen.
0:44:45 > 0:44:49I explained it to them in my speech of thanks.
0:44:49 > 0:44:53I should change that song's name to "No, Senor".
0:44:53 > 0:44:58If something disturbs you, get rid of it. Bang!
0:44:58 > 0:45:02That was the end of the Edmundo Ros Orchestra,
0:45:02 > 0:45:06after 35 years in existence.
0:45:06 > 0:45:07# Goodbye
0:45:07 > 0:45:10# Companeros, senoritas, caballeros
0:45:10 > 0:45:14# Maybe sometime I'll come for a holiday... #
0:45:14 > 0:45:18Then comes the music. What should we do with the music?
0:45:18 > 0:45:21# To your beautiful land of sunshine... #
0:45:21 > 0:45:24I decided to have it shredded.
0:45:24 > 0:45:29Everything I did smelt of me. If you borrowed it, it wouldn't work.
0:45:29 > 0:45:35It was a "dog in the manger" thing. I don't need it but you can't have it.
0:45:35 > 0:45:40They were all shredded. All I could see was the bill.
0:45:40 > 0:45:45I'll never forget it - £747 to shred my music.
0:45:46 > 0:45:51OK, from the top. Three, four...
0:45:51 > 0:45:54BRASS INTRO
0:46:00 > 0:46:07Two years ago, I took him back in the studio, at the request of the Japanese company, to make an album
0:46:07 > 0:46:11of the recordings that were most popular in Japan.
0:46:11 > 0:46:16I said, "They want these tunes. He said, "I don't have the arrangements."
0:46:16 > 0:46:22I said, "We'll lift them from the records and pay a fortune to have them redone."
0:46:22 > 0:46:26He said, "I shouldn't have destroyed the library."
0:46:26 > 0:46:28OK?
0:46:28 > 0:46:32'There's still a market for Edmundo's music.
0:46:32 > 0:46:37'Two or three years ago, he was conducting these session musicians.
0:46:37 > 0:46:44'They played with utmost passion and utmost respect.'
0:46:45 > 0:46:48He hasn't lost his vision, his sound.
0:46:48 > 0:46:54He hasn't lost his control, and he hasn't lost his discipline.
0:46:54 > 0:46:56OK?
0:46:56 > 0:47:00Brazil, from the top. Three, four, and one...
0:47:00 > 0:47:03BRASS INTRO
0:47:13 > 0:47:17And he hasn't lost his love and passion for that music
0:47:17 > 0:47:22that he, regretfully, now, I think, realises he shouldn't have given up
0:47:22 > 0:47:26when he 65 in 1975.
0:47:26 > 0:47:29EDMUNDO SINGS ALONG
0:47:39 > 0:47:44Two or three weeks after his 90th birthday, at the end of 2000,
0:47:44 > 0:47:49he will be introducing on Radio 2 a programme on Latin American music.
0:47:49 > 0:47:52He's the oldest DJ in the business.
0:47:52 > 0:47:55I mean, that's quite remarkable.
0:48:00 > 0:48:03HE SINGS ALONG TO "Brazil"
0:48:32 > 0:48:39For the last 25 years, Edmundo Ros has been living with his second wife, Susan, in Spain.
0:48:39 > 0:48:45Their house is called El Escondite De Eros - The Refuge Of Love.
0:48:45 > 0:48:49But also, of course, The Refuge Of E Ros.
0:49:11 > 0:49:15E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk