The Don

Sir Donald McIntyre, 1934-2025

- by RICHARD BETTS

Mr Monroe was a man given to definitive statements. A corpulent English teacher with a trained baritone voice, he would say things like, “This is not fat, it’s muscle and it's what enables me to sing,” while holding his ample midriff. Another of Mr Monroe's proclamations was: “Kiri Te Kanawa is not our greatest singer,” – I like to imagine a dramatic pause here – “Donald McIntyre is.”

We teenagers knew Kiri. She'd sung at Charles and Di's wedding; she was a dame. We'd never heard of the Auckland-born Donald McIntyre, who by then had a CBE and a Grammy to his name.