WILD CARD – Martin Milnes (Paperback ZULEIKA: ISBN 9781916197725 – also Audiobooks)
Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Martin Milnes was born in the wrong era – or at least that’s how it seemed. As a child he wore jazz-shoes to his junior school disco, expecting eight-year-olds to Mambo like the dancers in West Side Story… but childhood and school days were no Broadway musical. Martin was different – the cat who walked alone. Birthdays, stingingly empty, held a horrific reminder that he possessed no talent for friendship.
Yet once Martin emerged on stage, the jeering turned to cheering; the lonely void was filled by Hollywood stars of yesteryear, worshipped from afar. When his world shattered, the stars were there for him; and this time in person. The last surviving veterans of a glamorous era extended their guiding hands.
Centenarian swimming partners, D-Day hero drinking chums and propositions from naughty nonagenarians became every-day normality – and the wisdom, understanding and truths which they passed on completely transformed Martin’s life, outlook and spirit. At last, with their help, the Wild Card learned how to be a Friend – and realised what a Birthday truly represents. Not to mention, along the way, coming to terms with something which perhaps he should have recognised long ago.
Martin Milnes, better known nowadays as the other half of Ferris & Milnes, has written a lively account of his career so far, from lonely schooldays through to discovering himself and many other interesting characters on his journey to where he is in 2020. What could have turned into a self-obsessed story of his 30 odd years on this earth actually turns out to be an entertaining story of chance meetings leading to other opportunities he would have thought impossible.
Meeting along the way names that were instantly recognisable to me (being of the older persuasion) such as Jean Bayless, the original Maria in The Sound of Music in London, Mary Rodgers, daughter of Richard Rodgers, Fenella Fielding, Steve Ross and more importantly movie star Virginia Campbell, famous in the 40s and 50s, and her husband Lennie, to whom he became an adopted son.
The friendships moulded his life and career and he looks back on them with such tenderness and honesty. Initially I was initially intrigued due to all the Gilbert and Sullivan references, since I have been steeped in G&S since the tender age of nine and knew Martin Milnes’ name from his production of The Grand Duke in 2012 at the Finborough Theatre, so I had something in common with him from the start. I found I couldn’t actually put the book down as I always wanted to know ‘what happened next’ in this roller coaster of a ride.
I believe it is also available now as an audiobook but, to be honest, I’m glad I actually was asked to review the actual written book itself – mainly because I find audiobooks send me to sleep! I’d certainly recommend this to anyone to read but especially perhaps to younger readers who are starting out in the world of entertainment who feel they are different perhaps because they love an era that to others is dead and gone or feel they just don’t fit in. This will certainly put their minds at rest – you are not alone.
Nick Wakeham
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