Tom Dunne's Music & Me: I was a Daydream Believer in the magic of The Monkees

They may have been a 'manufactured' act, but a combination of their own talents and a sprinkle of songs from an emerging Neil Diamond ensured success on all levels 

The Monkees (L-R): Mike Nesmith, Peter Tork, Davy Jones and Mickly Dolenz.

“Mike Nesmith, RIP.” Three simple words, but their utterance caused the heads of a generation to fall a little, their memories suddenly flooded with images of Ireland in the Sixties. At 5 30 PM each Saturday, the noisy child filled streets of the country would suddenly fall silent. It was time. The Monkees were on TV.

My sister reminded me, she had owned a woolly hat, similar to the one Mike had worn. He’d been her favourite. Saturday night’s dinner was a fry, her then favourite also. That meal, and The Monkees on TV, she remembers as the happiest of times. She is not alone. It was, as they say, the ‘very heaven'.