Wednesday November 29, 1978

To Burley~in~Wharfedale with Sarah at 5:30. She looked gorgeous in her new fur coat, but was pale. I am sure she is anaemic.

We sat with Lynn in the cold, drinking sherry and waiting for David, who was putting in some overtime. He came in at 7:30 and we watched "Coronation Street" and giggled. ____________.

Sarah was not impressed by "Edward and Mrs Simpson". It wasn't one of the better episodes of the series.It dealt with Wallis's divorce from Ernest.

The sherry quietened Sarah a good deal and by 10 o'clock she was almost asleep. The news on ITV had us in hysterics. We had the details of Norman Scott's evidence at Jeremy Thorpe's committal proceedings at Minehead. Intricate details of sexual assaults, buggery in the House of Commons, vaseline, towels, ministers without portfolio, &c. All good stuff.

Home in the fog and freezing conditions at 10:30. It was a long slog. Sarah's fur coat was frozen solid. Poor soul.

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Wednesday October 4, 1978

No news from Jacq today.

Saw Marita on Wellington Street. She told me Carole and Fogarty came from their Ibiza holiday a few days early because she almost drowned in their hotel swimming pool. She had the 'kiss of life' job ~ poor child. Forever dogged by illness and misfortune.

Lord Grosvenor, reputedly one of Britain's wealthiest men, marries Natalia Phillips next weekend at Luton Hoo, Bedfordshire. Miss Phillips, aged 19, is the daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel and Mrs Harold Phillips, close friends of our own dear Queen, and a granddaughter of Lady Zia Wernher. In the time it's taken me to write this I have calculated that the Grosvenor fortunes have swelled by £250. It just doesn't bear thinking about. It may also interest you to know that the future Countess Grosvenor's elder sister is the Marchioness of Hamilton, daughter~in~law of the Duke of Abercorn.

However, to come back down to earth. Saw 'Coronation Street' and read Hitler. Nothing else.

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Monday February 6, 1978

Accession of Queen Elizabeth II

National Day (New Zealand)

Slings it down with rain all day.Horribly damp. At lunch time I went into town and spent £25 on a pair of boots. First I cashed a cheque for £100 and for the first time in many months I felt like Stavros Niarchos.

I attempted to phone Jacqui but her line was constantly engaged. Ah well, never mind. Work was really dead.

Mrs J is _______________.

Just watched TV tonight. That was after splashing around in the bath and 're assembling' my bedroom from the devastation of 'Our David' at the weekend. The delightful Hilda Ogden on Coronation Street, and a blood thirsty film of the 'Wild West' were the only items of interest. Could not be bothered watching any of the current affairs programs and I ignored the 9 o'clock news. I've had enough of Dr (David) Owen and the affair of the poisoned Jaffas &c.

Retired to bed at 12:00 with Baroness Orczy. Blimey, Silver Jubilee Year ended officially today. Her Majesty's been on the throne for 26 years. God Bless Her! Meanwhile: on the slopes of an Austrian mountain the Prince of Wales is paying court to Lady Sarah Spencer, 22 year-old daughter of Earl Spencer. I'd better leave it at this because my comments will only destroy my reputation as the world's leading authority on royal affairs.

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Wednesday January 11, 1978

Snow, gales and blizzards today. Went to the YP feeling peculiarly industrious and worked without a lunch break until 4:30. Marita brought me to Rawdon which was a help. I ate like a horse on getting home and felt bloated and uncomfortable afterwards.

More 'gush' in the morning papers about Prince Andrew and his 'sweetheart'. Editors throughout the kingdom must have tired of the firemen's strike and the prime minister's visit to India because front page news for a royal prince is quite rare these days.

Ernest Bishop: assassinated.

Reading 'The Scarlet Pimpernel' by that baroness. I really should have read this at 14 or 15 but in those days - Oh how far they seem off now - I was into the heavy volumes of reminiscences of lofty 18th century geezers and had no time for childish fiction.

A play starring Hugh Lloyd on BBC2 caught my attention. This was followed by Deborah Kerr in 'The Prisoner of Zenda', Oh and the assassination of Ernest Bishop on 'Coronation Street' shook the entire nation. The Queen has sent a personal message of sympathy to the surviving cast.

I intended having a bath but by midnight I was no nearer my watery end and I sat listening to the roar of a 70 mph gale on Hawksworth Lane. The late TV news featured our seasonal weather as the main item of information and Mama quivered from head to foot. My God! If we can't have a spot of nasty weather in January when can we? What do they down at the meteorological office expect? A bloody heatwave or something? A sandstorm or a drought? Weather, and talking about it, is the British disease.

-=-

Wednesday April 7, 1976

Brief: Meet Carole in Guiseley at 6.45 with the intention of visiting the library. It is closed however, so we go up to our place for a coffee and a chat.

See Pat Phoenix return to 'Coronation Street' which will no doubt go down in the history books. The 1970s will be remembered in the minds of men as the decade when Valery Giscard d'Estaing became French president, Joe Bugner visited Benton Park Grammar School, and Pat Phoenix retired from 'Coronation Street' and then made a 'come back'.

Carole goes homeward by bus and I just about freeze to death in the cold.

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Monday November 10, 1975

Monday morning again. Sarah is off with some undisclosed illness, and of course Kathleen never comes in on Mondays. So we have a busy day really.

Derek Foster brings over a letter from the Duchess of Leinster who is complaining about the way the press have treated the duke over his bankruptcies. She says he's been ever so upset about the things we've said, and adds "people do make mistakes when they are young", and it is wrong of the press to keep harping on about the past. I agree with the duuchess in all these things except the bit about the duke making mistakes when he was young. His Grace is now 83, and he was a bankrupt until 1970. I hardly think that "making mistakes when you are young" applies to a 78 year-old man.

Ring Marita at her place of work and tell her of the engagement. She is bowled over by it. __________. Marita also says that she'll inform MM. I always laugh at Marita. Don's ask me why, because if you do I'll only give you a negative reply.

Home at 5.20 as usual and Carole rings me. We decide not to meet tonight. _____. However, she rings again at 8pm from Maria's and I invite her round here. She arrives while I'm in the throes of 'Coronation Street', and we have a coffee with Mum, Sue and Peter. Carole is like a child in many ways and one would never believe that she is older than Lynn. So many things have to be explained to her in great detail. I sometimes feel like a teacher when we're together. Quite an attractive schoolgirl she is, too!

See a film at 9.20 "Quatermass and the Pit". I liked it. We then saw (Uncle) Harold Wilson speaking at the Lord Mayor's Banquet. I'm horrified what I see staring at me from the tv screen. A haggard, pale, anaemic old gent who doesn't like being with us at Christmas. These past few months have certainly aged him beyond his years. Let us hope that the shining example set by General Franco will not go unheeded at No 10, Downing Street. He finishes speaking at 11.30 and I then walk Carole to Menston. It's a nice evening and the walk did me some good I'm sure.

Home at 12.45 and leap with relief beneath the sheets.

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Wednesday April 24, 1974

Up at 7.30. Morning passes quickly and I get a bus home at 12. Carol had some bad news this morning. I think her grandmother died, or something. Janice and I were sitting with her when she received a phone call. She was upset.

Nice lunch. Just Mum, Dad and self. Quite infuriated that Barclaycard hasn't let me know anything. I wanted a spending spree at the weekend and unless I get a card this will not be possible.

See 'Coronation Street' on tv. Anne Walker was playing Lady Bracknell in 'The Importance of Being Earnest'.

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Wednesday November 28, 1973

The first of the winter snow fell in Leeds from about 11 o'clock this morning onwards. It was fantastic. The snow always deadens the noise, and the traffic moved silently down Wellington Street, for a change.

Ian Appleyard was on the train this morning. His sister Margaret is getting married again next month.

A busy, but pleasant day at the YP. A journalist wanted to know if I would play rugby on Sunday but I told him that I loathed the sport. He says it's the YP versus the EP. They'd kill me! All those 16 stone grizzly reporters - never!

At lunchtime I researched the genealogy of Lady Jane Wellesley. She is, of course, descended from the 1st Duke of Wellington, victor of the Battle of Waterloo, and she is a fifth cousin of the Queen. Yes, she's suitable enough and quite attractive - probably a bit plump, but nothing to get tangled about. Whatever happened to Angela Nevill?

Get the 5.17 train with Helen Willis. We discuss old school days especially the sociology lessons. What fun we had way back in those good old wintry days of December 1971. Home at 6 for tea.

See 'Coronation Street'. Albert Tatlock and Minnie Caldwell are thinking about getting married! I'll not venture to comment on that thank you very much.

You are well aware of my views on the subject of monarchy, but I'm going to break from tradition in order to say something very rude about one of the lesser royalties. King Feisal of Iraq is a "silly bugger", and I mean it. He's been very stubborn with his oil supplies at the moment and, as a result, petrol rationing books will be issued tomorrow.

-==-

Monday October 29, 1973

It's a great laugh at the YP now that I've settled in. Today I went supplied with my urine sample in order to have the YP medical.

Fortunately Miss Went had arranged for my typing course to commence at 3.30 which disrupted the whole agenda. What a scream the typing thing was! The keys on the so-called typewriter are completely blank and one has to keep ones eyes on a screen in the centre of the room upon which the letters of the alphabet are situated. A silly voice, tape recorded, yells out the letter he wants you to bash, and you cannot look down at your fingers! A whole hour of insanity.

At 4.30 I went along to the medical room where I discover the doc is not in attendance. "Come back next Monday afternoon", said the aged receptionist.

Walk to the railway station with Sarah and see on a board that the Ilkley train is on platform 5 west. It said the same last week but it really was on platform 2. I therefore asked a porter from which platform the train was actually leaving from. 'You're a big boy now. You ought to be able to read. It's bloody 2. Platform bloody 2.'

Ena Sharples collapses on 'Coronation Street'. Is it the end for Britain's number one battle-axe? I hope not.

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Monday September 24, 1973

Boring morning at Benton. Christine and MM went to David's at 42, Tennyson Street, where I joined them at 2.0 o'clock. We played records and drank some cheap sort of sweet sherry until 5 o'clock. Christine angered me by say Chris 'influenced' me. What absolute rot!

Arrive home at 5.30. Salad for tea. Mother argues about my job again. I am determined not to leave school until November 27. What's seven weeks anyway? See 'Coronation Street' at 7.30.

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Monday August 13, 1973

Up with the larks at 6.40. Make my way to Greenacre Hall for 7.30. Andy and I move from the Henshaw bungalows to Ivy Fitton's estate up Larkfield Mount.

The sun is really hot. Clean and paint gutters until 4.30 when Bill arrives. Sit behind the matron's house until nearly 5 o'clock.

June rings me at 7.0 o'clock and she says she wants to see 'Owl and the Pussycat' tomorrow. I certainly don't mind seeing it again. It will make it the third time in 2 years. Dave and I first saw it in 1972.

See 'Coronation Street' again. Glad June and I are going out tomorrow. Bed 11.30.

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Monday August 6, 1973

Feeling terrible. Rains solidly all day. Cold worsening. I put a large shot of rum in my flask and battle through nine hours of painting garage doors, three handkerchiefs and two phensic tablets.
So glad to be home at 5.30.

June rings at 7. So wonderful to hear her voice again. Fortunately she doesn't want to go out tonight - I am in no fit state. We decide to leave it until Friday evening.

See 'Coronation Street'. Bed 10.30. This cold ought to have cleared by tomorrow.

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Wednesday July 4, 1973

Independence Day, USA. Prince Michael of Kent, 31. Go to school for another terribly boring day. Christine and I sit listening to the Sgt Peppers album by the Beatles. Totally sick of it after a week of the same old thing.

Came home at nearly 5 o'clock after getting a new book entitled: 'The Princesses Royal', which is a biography of all the six women who have held this title. The title can be created at the discretion of the Sovereign and it has always been bestowed on the eldest daughter. The title fell abeyant in 1965 with the death of Princess Mary, Countess of Harewood. I expect that the Queen will one day make Princess Anne the Princess Royal. In fact, it would not surprise me in the least if Her Majesty did this on the eve of her daughters wedding in November. I suspect that Nov 13, 1973 will be the date that Princess Anne becomes the Princess Royal.

See 'Coronation Street' - Bette Lynch is found attacked at 8. Have to wait till Monday to see what happened to her.

Bed at 10.35.

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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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