Kerre Woodham: Subconscious devotion to The Monkees

I didn't think I knew anything about The Monkees, who were in the news this week after their frontman Davy Jones died of a heart attack at the age of 66.

In mitigation for my lack of memory, I should point out they were in their heyday when I was 2, and they didn't get the sort of rebirth that a few other 1960s stars have been lucky enough to receive.

But it just goes to show how much you can take in subliminally. When we played A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You on my show the other night, it was like the first time I went back to mass after years away from the church. I knew when to kneel, when to sit and the proper responses - who says rote learning doesn't work?

With the song, I knew all the words and I even knew when the pause came in the chorus. Until the song started playing, I would have bet good money I had never heard it before.

I've discovered a treasure trove of The Monkees' hits and if they don't lift your spirits, you need medicating. Maybe there is something to the over-zealous parents who play their children classical music from the moment they are born. If only I'd grown up listening to language tapes, I could have been fluent in Mandarin, not Monkee.