London - With her freakish Arch Druidess costumes and massive wobbly posterior the late Yaltah Menhuin has been outed as a feckless tramp according to a new memoir.
Former Royal College of Music Emeritus Professor of Tuba Techniques Sir Busby Bogrovich's new book has described how he caught violin genius Yehudi Menuhin's sister 'on the fiddle' during the famous Missing Stradivarius Scandal of 1977.
The priceless instrument vanished from a practice room at the Royal Albert Hole ahead of the maestro's scheduled concert before Princess Margaret and Henry Kissinger as part of the Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations.
Valued at around three million dollars the violin was insured with New York's Grzybowski Brothers Inc and usually resided in a lead-lined instrument case.
Its bizarre disappearance just hours before the concert sparked a nationwide hunt - including private detectives hired by Sir Busby whose famous college had temporarily loaned the Strad.
"The lads burst into Yaltah's seedy London apartment," Bogrovich states in Chapter 5, "and found the virtuoso's sister spreadeagled on a leather Chesterfield, a foot-long cigarette holder in her fuschia-painted lips sucking on a purple Sobranie."
With one quick shove the lady was unceremoniously de-throned from the couch to reveal the missing violin tucked up her full-length dress.
Polaroid snaps of the successful raid were eventually sent to her famous brother who just tut-tutted a few times before stating "So what else is new?" when informed of the deception.
The instrument was eventually bought by Django Reinhardt's old mucker Stéphane Grappelli who played the Max Bruch Violin Concerto No 1 in G minor on it at Carnegie Hall in 1982.
Sir Simon Rattle is 69.
