20090420

Monday June 25, 1973

'O' level Biology exam. Get up at 7.35. Raining and thundering. Absolutely hateful. Mother goes back to bed with a really terrible cold. I make myself a cup of tea and sit listening to Tony Blackburn until 10. He sings 'Happy Birthday to you' to Lord Mountbatten of Burma who is 73 today. I didn't think they liked royalty on Radio 1.

Mother is full of cold, the weather is rotten, and I've run out of monetary capital and all financial aid. What a state we are all in! Dad drives me to school in thunder and lightning. Begin Biology at 1.50. A ridiculous examination. Failed again. Finish at 3.50. Louise is at school for the last time! I will never see her again after today. I wave her off in her car at 4.15 - very poignant moment. Benton Park will never be the same without her. Come home on the 4.20 55 bus. June rings at 7. Evidently Janet poisoned her old woman on her very first day as a home help. June began work today and experienced a 90 year-old, one-armed imbecile! But she says he was sweet. She can't afford to go out on Tuesday evening -we're going out on Wednesday instead. Life is hell without her at school but we seem to enjoy our evenings out all the more due to our longer partings. One can easily get bored of someone when one is with her every hour of the day.

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Sunday June 24, 1973

Get up at 1 o'clock. Absolutely disgraceful. Have lunch at 1.30. Good old Yorkshire pudding! Read the Sunday papers and watch television until 6. Have strawberries and cream for tea. John and I prepare to go out at 7.30 and walk down into Guiseley. We go see June's sister, Christine, on Netherfield Rd. I thought June would be staying with her but she isn't arriving until 11pm. June's Mum and Dad with Sue went to Newquay this morning.

Get the 8 o'clock bus to the Emmotts. June arrives 10 minutes later. Dave and Ivy are sitting comfortably inside. Dave tells me that Harry is now going out with a girl from Shipley. Harry and Sue is all over - the romance is dead! John will be pleased. Dave saw Harry this afternoon and he told Dave that he wouldn't be going to the Emmotts or Fleece again if he knows that John will be there. The boy is certainly making a name for himself. Dave wants to go down to the Drop in Guiseley to see Patrice Saunders about a job. John goes with him whilst June and I stay at the E. They arrive back at 10.15. See Sue Crosby and get into serious trouble. Whilst Sue C, Dave and I stand laughing outside the gents - Dave locked the door with a bolt on the outside -a poor bloke inside was banging and trying to get out - all we could do was laugh. When Dave finally let him out the bloke flew at him yelling: "you won't come back into this bloody place again" - and still all we could do was roll about hysterically. Go back to June and Ivy - the old lady found it especially amusing and goes across to further embarrass the poor chap. Dave and John go home in the car.

June and I get the 35 to Guiseley. I escort her down to Netherfield - very romantic. Home by 12 o'clock. Have some toast and a boiled egg. Bed by 12.35. A fantastic day. June and I certainly NOT cooling off - praise the Lord!

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Saturday June 23, 1973

Sleep until 12. Get up and eat a small lunch. John went to work at 7am. He must feel really terrible. It rains and thunders slightly, but this doesn't deter Mother and Father from mowing the lawns. I listen to records until tea time - not tired in the least after last night's excursion.

Have tea and see 'Dr Who'. Mother, Father, Lynn and Sue go see Grandma Gadsby's films and slides of Italy - they leave at 7 o'clock. See a St Trinians film with John. Prepare to go out at 8.30 - catch 9 o'clock bus with John - arrive at Emmotts at 9.25. The Emmotts is packed out and although rain is falling slightly several people are drinking in the car park. I battle my way to the bar where Sue Crosby is serving. Get two pints of lager. June and Sue B are not arrived yet. Hirsty arrives. June comes in at 9.40. I battle my way back to bar once again - after 5 minutes get served. We all stand in the porch - the rain eases off. Have a really excellent time. A couple of June's friends pass by and keep her talking until 10.30. A right pair of catty bitches I ever did see. Sue is very disgruntled by June ignoring us. But the poor darling needs some outlet from this tiresome rigmarole of spending every spare moment shut up with me at the Emmotts! Go across to the chippie - everyone eats except June who is quite starving herself. Sue buys a massive bottle of fizzy pop - everyone is totally bloated by the time we reach the bottom road. Before making any decisions about tomorrow night the girls bus arrives - Christine is on board - we savagely wave. John and I get the 32. Home by midnight.

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Friday June 22, 1973

Get up at 8.30 and leave for Benton on the 9.30 bus. Arrive 9.50. Janet Roots is the only person there. Sit about until 10.30 when Christine arrives. Play consequences with them until 12.30. Very hot day indeed. Sat outside for 10 minutes but found it overpowering. Went to the chippie by myself. Came back and sat and ate them with Christine and Janet.

Christine and Philip are not coming out tonight - they want a quiet weekend. Played my new card trick until 2 - only Steve Tiffany could guess it. Dave arrives in the car at 2 o'clock. Andy Graham and Co. go out for a spin with him - Christine thinks he's mad in doing so. Dale and Willie are starting off at the Fleece at 6.45 - much too early for me. June arrives at school at 3. We go to Rawdon Park and on the way I bump into Bill Dixon - he cannot promise me the painting job but he's going to battle it out with his senior officer.

Go back to school where we collect our gear. Go home on the 4.15 55. Wash hair and ready for 7. Dave picks up John and I at 7.45. June, Dale, Willie, Jeff Hogg, Tiff, etc are already at the Fleece. We work our way up Town Street. By 10.30 no one is in any fit state to do any sane action. Geoffrey Hogg is violently sick in the beer garden at the Grey Horse - so badly that it puts everybody off drinking. June, Hursty, John and I go to the Intercon at the Cow and Calf in Dave's second trip. Arrive there at 11.30. John begins dancing immediately and again he never leaves the floor. A great evening. Tiff, Dale and Willie get absolutely stoned. John seems to get on very well with them. Very good discs are played and I drink only eraticly - do not get drunk. John and his mates go home in the first trip. Willie, who is sick, Hirtsy, June and I sit on Ilkley Moor until 3.15am. June and I sit alone whilst soft dew falls. Very romantic. Dave collects us at 3.15. Home by 3.35.

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Thursday June 21, 1973

'O' level Economics exam. Got up at 8.10 and left on the 8.30 bus - arrive at 9 at Benton. Louise and I go to Biology. A rotten exam - finish it at 11.30. Go down to Rawdon with Louise afterwards.

Sit with Dave, Christine and Martin V-B looking at the slides we took a couple of weeks ago. MM makes us all very nervous by trying to do last minute revising for Economics. At 1.30 Christine shows me how to calculate elasticity of demand - which, luckily, appeared on section A of the exam paper. Section A was dreadful. Section B fairly straight forward. August 27 here we come! Once again it's in the lap of the Gods. It's all over!They're finished with at last! No more exams until at least November.

Collapse in relief in the common room afterwards, Have a very funny do with Christine. But feel mad that June did not come to school as she promised. Dave and I fight with Malcolm Thomas and struggle down for the 55 bus at 4.55. Wait until 5.15. John gets on the bus at Henshaw Lane.

Have tea at 6. Read Albert and Victoria until 7.30. June rings me from her sister's in Guiseley - speak with little Karen on the phone. June's coming tomorrow afternoon. Feeling very tired. Read until I have a bath. Bed at 11 o'clock.


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Wednesday June 20, 1973

Wake at 10.30. Very dark and rainy. A letter awaits me from June and it's very charming indeed - she also agrees that Sunday evening was the most pleasant evening we have spent together for a long time.

Dad saw Bill Dixon yesterday and he asked him whether I want my council painting job back in the summer holidays. I think about it and agree yes. It will mean nearly £20 a week. The CW will have to go. But Lynn could work Tuesdays and Fridays, and Christine Dibb Thursday and Saturday - splitting my evenings equally between the two of them.

Attempt to do Economics until 12. Have lunch by candlelight at 12.45 - weather still dark and shocking. Revise until 4 when Jennie Rawnsley comes round to see the girls. She demands to know why I haven't bought 'Tie a Yellow Ribbon round The Old Oak Tree' by Dawn. Didn't have the heart to tell her it stinks!

Have tea. Watch 'Coronation Street'. Very guiltily I go on to see 'Special Branch' when I should be doing Economics revision, but what's the point in working myself into an early grave at 18?

Come to bed at 11.30 after seeing an awful play in which a student cut his throat in the bath - the bathwater turned bright red! What a way to commit suicide! I could never find the courage it must take to do away with oneself. Besides, I value human life too highly.

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Tuesday June 19, 1973

Mama and Papa celebrate 19 happy years of married bliss. Awoke at 9.30 to the sound of Dad smashing rocks on the drive. The sky is very dark and stormy but the day is generally warm. By 11.30 it's raining. The first day of Royal Ascot.

We give Mother and Dad some nice looking gadgets. Bottle openers and cork screws, etc. Quite expensive. Dad bought Mum a £2 bouquet from Carbutt's in Guiseley.

The Duchess of Windsor is 77 tolday. Last year when she came over from France for the duke's funeral everyone thought that some great reconcilliation had taken place. But she flew back to Paris and nothing has been heard of her since. The question now arises: will they allow her to be buried next to her husband at Frogmore, or is she permanently exiled?

Have a nice lunch at 1. Still very little revision done. Mum and Dad go out shopping at 2.30 and I am tempted by the television and watch 'Public Eye'. Mum and Dad home at 4.30.

Lynn and Sue show me a card trick - it takes until 6 for all the family to get it.

Revise from 6.30 until 9.0. See news at 9. Roger Delgado, 'The Master' in 'Dr Who' has been killed in an accident in Turkey. Saturday evenings won't be the same without him. See a good programme about the work of Lady Allen of Hurtwood. Write June a lengthy letter.

Came to bed at 12.30. Mama and Papa who went out at 8 came in at 1 o'clock.

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Monday June 18, 1973

The 158th anniversary of the defeat of the French armies at the Battle of Waterloo. Get up at 8am. Have a bowl of cereals. Mum goes to work at 8.30. Lynn and Sue follow on to school. I do the cleaning up.

The weather is really too beautiful for description. June wasn't bursting out all over last night, but I sure was! Yesterday's visit by Auntie Mabel and clan was very enjoyable. Won't be seeing them until July 7 when Brian marries Valerie Jean Hutchinson, of Bramley.

Have a bath and wash my hair at 10. Mum comes home at 12.40. Have a bit of lunch and Mum prepares dinner for tonight. She intends sitting out while the sun is nice. I listen to the Johnnie Walker Show on Radio 1 and then get ready to go to Rawdon with some library books which are a week overdue. Caught the 2 o'clock bus. I missed seeing June by 5 minutes. See Janet Roots who says they were thrown out of the Woolpack at lunchtime. Very hot afternoon. Go on to the library and come home at 3.30.

Read until 5.30. Early dinner. See 'Coronation Street'. Lynn comments that a women on a tv commercial is 'ugly'. I think the opposite as say no woman under the age of 25 can possibly be ugly. A woman doesn't begin to look ugly until she is a 58 year old, toothless, hunchbacked,
straggly-haired old dear, standing 4ft in height, with a 49ins bust hanging about her waist. She only laughs at this.

Read until 10.30. Bed at 11.30.

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Sunday June 17, 1973

Trinity Sunday. Lynn wakes me at 10.30. It's Father's Day. It's a commercial thing invented by the people who makes greeting cards - and a cheap copy of Mothering Sunday which is now also very commercially backed. Give Papa 7 cigars costing 77p.

Sue and Lynn made Mum and Dad's breakfast. He also received a 1lb box of toffees and some nutty chocolate.

Very, very cloudy day but warm. Dress and read until 12.30. Blast! Starting revising for Economics tomorrow. Life is one long swot these days. June rings at 2.45.

Have lunch at 2. Read Albert and Victoria until 3. Auntie Mabel, Uncle Jack, Marlene and Frank, Mark, and Debbie came at 3 and stayed until 8. The children, Mark, 5, and Debbie, 3, are beautiful with blond hair and hazel eyes. Auntie Mabel and I go onto the lawn and organise races for the children. Frank takes me to Westfield Fisheries at 6.30 - fish and chips 9 times!

Sit until 8.20, and get a lift to Rawdon in Frank's car. They drop me off near the Emmotts. Auntie Mabel laughs when I say "see you in church". Go to Emmotts. June and I drink lager. At 9.20 we walk to the Fleece, arriving at 10.10. Bust the fly on my jeans in the gents toilets. June gives me a safety pin and we went into Horsforth park so that she could fix my zip. June is the one and only. Come home at 11.40.

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Saturday June 16, 1973

Read Duff's 'Albert and Victoria'. Much better than Woodham-Smith's biography. It raises doubts about Prince Albert's parentage. He suggests Albert's real father was Leopold I, King of the Belgians or some court chamberlain of Jewish extraction in Coburg. Fancy, Queen Victoria marrying a bastard! I have taken a real liking to the young Queen Victoria - not lacking in physical attractiveness either.

Get up at 10.30. Go with John to Leeds on the 11 o'clock train. Arrive 11.15. I buy some shirts whilst John spends £25 on a suit for Brian and Valerie's wedding - including a pair of fantastic shoes -adding about four inches to his height. Arrive Guiseley at 2.40. I bought a pair of polaroid sunglasses for £3.25.

Lynn no longer has a job. She and Al resigned this morning after a squabble over working hours.

Have a cup of tea and watch 'Dr Who'. Go to CW at 7. Sue and Toffer are excited about the holidays. Imagine, no work next weekend! No CW until June 29. Pauline is in good spirits and slightly sun-burned. Toffer and I had a 'Hairy Leg' contest. I won! Come home at 1.40. Sit an hour with 2 boiled eggs. Read a bit of Albert and Victoria. Bed 2.45.

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Friday June 15, 1973

'A' Level History Paper II. Another hot day. June is busting out all over! Get up at 7 o'clock AM. Have only a grapefruit and go to Benton Park on the 8 o'clock 55 - arriving 8.25. Sit revising Bismarck until 9.10. Carol and Sheila arrive - both looking very pale. Enter exam at 9.25. Napoleon III did crop up - but in a round-about sort of way. Write more than yesterday, but yesterday was definately a better paper. Anyway, it's in the lap of the God's now, as it were.

See June, who I fear I have neglected this past week. We're going to the Emmotts on Sunday for the first time in weeks. She's really fantastic. She and Christine go in to Yeadon at 2.30 to see about jobs as 'home helps' in the summer recess. I laugh at the thought of it. June and Christine as char women cleaning around for 6 weeks looking like Hilda Ogdens - some folk will do owt for brass!

Go to CW - play 20 questions and charades - hysterical!

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Thursday June 14, 1973

Dave Lawson's 18th birthday. 'A' Level History Paper 1. Beautiful weather. Get up at 7. Nervousness now quite gone. Go on the 8 o'clock 55 bus after everyone at home wished me luck. Arrive 8.30. Talk to Mary about her troubles. Carol arrives at 9 with Sheila - both frightened to death! Michael Attenborough arrives at 9.20. Go to The Room. Papers given out at 9.25. Mrs Lane arrives looking terrified. Exams starts 9.30. By the expression on Mrs Lane's face she thinks the paper is marvellous. I think it's not as bad as I imagined it would be. Do the hardest question on the paper - according to Mrs Lane, but I like it: 'Peel - for and against'. Do all four questions. Finish at 12.30. Mrs Lane says that with the questions we should have all passed the British paper. The European paper tomorrow will be far worse.

See June. Come home on the 1.30 bus. Have lunch. Show Mum the exam paper. Revise until 3.30. Remember it's Dave's birthday - go ring him up and wish him congratulations. Carry on revising until 11.25. European history is much more of an arduous subject when it comes round to revising. Go to bed at 12. Not nervous in the least.

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Wednesday June 13, 1973

It's announced on the 6 o'clock news that Princess Anne and Mark Phillips are to marry in Westminster Abbey on November 14 - the 25th birthday of the Prince of Wales and the 69th birthday of the Archbishop of Canterbury - who will marry the couple. The poor girl wanted a quiet wedding at Windsor but Mum put her foot down.

Get up at 8. Revise until 12. Go to the Commercial at Esholt with Mum and Dad for lunch. Come home at 2. Feeling very tired. Mum always feels tired too after drinking at lunchtime. Revise until 10.30. Watch Kenneth Clark "Civilisation" on tv. Come to bed at 11.10. Very nervous, but go immediately to sleep.

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Tuesday June 12, 1973

Get up at 8. Revise until 12.30. Mum and Dad arrive home from work. She tells me that Princess Anne is having a wedding cake made at Stephenson's bakery in Guiseley. I disbelieve, but it's true. Of course, the Royals always have several wedding cakes made. They have them cut up and sent off to charities, Commonwealth prime ministers and such like. Still, it's a great honour for the bakery, and good for business I suppose.

Revise from 1.30 until tea. Go to CW at 7.30. No one in. See tv until 9. 2 come in, and alas 4 arrive at 11.30. Home at 1.25. Bed immediately.

Whilst on the subject of Royal marriages I might as well make a few guesses as to what title, if any, Lieutenant Phillips will take. Way back in May 1960 when Princess Margaret married, her husband did not take a title immediately. Margaret married Mr Armstrong-Jones and he did not become Earl of Snowdon until October 1961 - two weeks before Viscount Linley was born. I expect that the same precedent will occurr with Lieut. Phillips. The Daily Mail says he will be Earl of Somerford -because he lives in Great Somerford, Wilts. But Lord Snowdon lived in Pimlico and he wasn't created Earl of Pimlico. The decide the actual title is a bit dicy so I won't make any attempt to do so.

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Monday June 11, 1973

Get up at 8 o'clock. Revise at home until 11. Go up to Benton Park on the 11 o'clock 55 bus. Do an Economics test from 11.45 until 12.30. I got top marks - 14 out of 28 - 50 per cent. It was an objective test and I guessed the majority of the questions. Come home on the 2 o'clock 55 after ringing Dave from Rawdon with Christine. June was not at school. Come home and revise until tea. Watch 'Coronation Street' and then revise until 11. Bed at 11.30.

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Sunday June 10, 1973

Whit Sunday. HRH Prince Philip is 52. Get up at 7am. Feeling full of cold. My sinuses playing me up. Revise Gladstone until after 8. Drift off back to sleep until 12. Over lunch we discuss Italy. Go upstairs for a bath at 2.

Good old Prince Philip is 52 years old today - one noticeable thing about the duke is that he never ages. He always looked 50 - even when he was 25.

Revise until 8pm. Watch a film - very good. Revise until 12. Come to bed at 12.

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Saturday June 9, 1973

Go to Bradford Library and try to get 7 books but am allowed only 4. Come home 2.0. o'clock.Have lunch. Go to Yeadon. John and I buy two records. Home in order to see 'Dr Who'. Watch the first hour of the 'Man from U.N.C.L.E.' film. Walk to CW at 7.o. Busy from 9 till 11.30. Talk with Sue R. She says: "Wouldn't it be funny if Princess Anne was pregnant". We all laugh. Buckingham Palace would of course deny it right up to the last minute - one can't believe a word they say these days.


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Friday June 8, 1973




Revise until 12.30. Go to the Yew Tree pub in Otley with June and Janet Roots. Andy Graham, Pee Wee, and Kim Dean are playing darts. Go to the river at 3. Very hot and humid. Dave and Christine arrive. Go on the river in boats until 4.30. I feel very irritable. Exams looming up. Dave takes us home in his car at 5. Drop June off at her sister Christine's on Netherfield - where she goes for tea. Take Christine and Stephen Holmes to Horsforth.

Not going back to school until Thursday morning.

Go to CW at 7.30. Sue and Toffer hear my news about me going to Brian's wedding on July 7. They're not upset about it. Busy until 1. Come home and go straight to bed.


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Thursday June 7, 1973

Revise all day. Do Economics lesson. Come home after standing with June at the bus top until 5.30. Groves, passing by, laughs at us holding hands. Revise until 8.30. Listen to records with John. Watch 'Jason King'. Come to bed at 12.30.

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Wednesday June 6, 1973

Go to school at 9.30. Revise until 11.45. It's beautiful 'exam weather' - always a scorcher at 'O' and 'A' level times. Do Economics. Buy Thirkettle for 50p. Revise Ireland until 4.05. Dave brings me home, and Dad signs his passport forms. Revise until 9. Go to fish and chip shop. Watch 'Special Branch'. Go to bed 11.30.

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Tuesday June 5, 1973

Revise Bismarck and Irish Home Rule at home all day. CW at 7.30. Finish at 11.30. Come home and go to bed after having coffee.

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Monday June 4, 1973

Holiday in the Irish Republic. Chris 18. Get up at 8. Go to Benton at 9. Christine tells me how Philip hit Dale in the Stone Trough on Tuesday last week. She's worried that Dale will take it out on her. He ignores Christine when he finally arrives at 10 o'clock.

Louise and Ray have finished and she is now going out with an Italian living in Yeadon with the unlikely name of Robert! Roberto would be more in keeping with custom wouldn't it!

June prefers to sit with Michael Stott instead of me at lunchtime. Christine and I rescue the stool from the tree. I then put it back. Decide to go home this afternoon and get the 2.30 bus - the sun is extremely hot. Arrive home at nearly 3. Mum and Dad are sitting in the sun.

I have scrambled eggs on toast and revise all evening. Bed at 11.30.

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Sunday June 3, 1973

Get up at 11. Mum makes lunch. Very nice - but I don't really like curries. Have wine which Mrs Smith brought back from Dusseldorf. Major Smith gave me £2 for cutting the lawns. Can't be bad.

Watch a film in the afternoon. Do a Bismarck essay. Mama rings Auntie Hilda and invites herself to Pudsey for tea. Finnish the essay and go to Pudsey - arrive 5.30. Uncle Tony in best of spirits as usual. Have tea and look around the garden. Uncle is worried about the apple tree and says it may have to be cut down. The old garden wouldn't be the same without the tree, which is now 35 years old. Mum doesn't remember the garden without it. Mum, Dad, Auntie H and Uncle T go out at 8.30. We have a laugh with Karen's record player. They get back from the pub at 11 and I argue with Dad and Uncle Tony...about the monarchy (what else).

Come home at 1 o'clock.

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Saturday June 2, 1973




Twentieth anniversary of the Coronation of the Queen. John wakes me at 4.30. Have a cold wash whilst he fills the flasks of coffee. Sun rising in the sky - a fabulous day. Arrive at the Station Hotel, Guiseley, 5.15. The coach collects us at 5.30. June gets on at Horsforth at 5.55. Beautiful journey down. Arrive London 10am. We three make our way to Buckingham Palace. Sun is now red-hot. Very large, colourful crowds on the Mall and Constitution Hill. Stand to the right of the Victoria Memorial. See the Queen Mother, Duchess of Gloucester, Princess Margaret, Princes Andrew and Edward, Lord Snowdon, Viscount Linley and Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones leave for Horse Guards Parade in open landaus. Very clear view. See Her Majesty and Prince Philip leave. Have a laugh with the local police and speak to an old dear who was standing in the same place and saw HM leave for her coronation 20 years ago today. Took photographs of the Royal Family on the balcony. Leave the palace at 2 and to see the statue of Eros in Piccadilly. Go to the Tower of London and look around until 6. Go to Trafalgar Square for tea. June throws sandwiches at the pigeons, and we look around the fountains, etc. Go back to the Tower where June and I queue for an hour to see the Crown Jewels - beautiful. I last saw them in 1967. Also go round the armoury - I don't like that sort of stuff but June does. Go to Downing Street and see the Serpentine then walk back to the monument of "The Grand old Duke of York". Go back to the Tower and sit outside a new pub. John and I have beers and June has a Britvic. Coach comes at 8.55. Leave at 9. Stop at Leicester at 11 - John, June and I photographed in a booth - hysterical! Arrive home 1.30. Lynn enjoyed working for me. Tell Mum and Dad about our adventures. Go to bed at 2am.


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Friday June 1, 1973

Letter arrives from June. The best one she's sent me yet. Ah well! The first of Flaming June! June is busting out all over! (The month of course and not dearly beloved). Get up at 10. Go to shops with Mama who is only just recovering from her illness. Weather is perfect again - hope it lasts for tomorrow.

Lynn and Sue arrive home from Kettlewell. They were involved in a nasty road accident on Tuesday, but neither of them were hurt. Sue was only shocked a little bit.

Have haddock for lunch.

Go to CW at 7.30. Very quiet. A drunken couple sit about until 1.10am. Sue, full of apologies about the late hour, rushes me home at 1.20. I have to be up at 4.45am. Mum is very concerned. She had saved me some fish and chips in the oven. Very greasy but sustaining. Go to bed at 1.45 looking forward to tomorrow.

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Thursday May 31, 1973

Revise all day. Or try to ...


Listen to this Tony Blackburn cracker:

Fred: "Ah well, these little things are sent to try us".

Bob: "What, Judges?"

Wednesday May 30, 1973


Got up at 7.30. Switch on the tv and watch the arrival at King's Cross of the Royal Family from Balmoral - the Queen and Prince Philip, Anne and Mark, Andrew and Edward and several corgis. I find it hard to believe. It all seems too much of a hurried engagement for the Royal Family. The papers are full of it all.

At 10 I went down to Grange's and bought 3 tickets for Saturday - and three newspapers to study the engagement. Read until 2. Have a sandwich. Listen to Princess Anne and Mark talking about their engagement on the radio. Revise until 5.30.

Back to CW again. Sue stays upstairs all evening. Toffer and I do all the cooking - ten couples all came in within three hours. We relax at 11 45 feeling very proud. Home by 1 o'clock.

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Tuesday May 29, 1973

Princess Anne and Mark Phillips are engaged! The warning that an important announcement was to be made came on the 6 o'clock news. I was at work when the official bulletin came. It's a surprise to everyone...and after all those denials! No announcement of the wedding date is yet made.

Get up at 10. Mum still feeling unwell. I go to the shops and buy some fish for lunch. We eat when Dad comes home at 2. Read AJP Taylor on Metternich in the afternoon - I begin to feel unwell, but recover by 6 o'clock when I go to the CW. Judy, the American, is still working. Quite a busy evening, but pleasant. Toffer brings me home at 1.10. Sit with the radio listening for the news, because I had not yet heard the announcement from the palace. Then at 2 o'clock on Radio 2 I heard it. Went to bed.

The couple will be on the balcony at Buckingham Palace on Saturday.

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Sunday March 25, 1984

 Moorhouse Inn British Summer Time begins 3rd Sunday in Lent Bacon sandwiches and the Sunday Telegraph. Fuss about the Queen's visit to ...