Tuesday April 9, 1974

Wake up at nearly 12 o'clock. I know it's a ruddy disgrace, but who cares anyway? Still very upset about June, who may be stark raving mad but doesn't usually back down from arrangements. Anyway, I dropped a letter in the post, and I'll expect a reply when I see one. No doubt about it, I must be completely off my rocker, because no other male in existence would chase a female around for 8 months with nothing to show for it!

A beautiful afternoon and I collapse on the back lawn with a deck chair, dark glasses and Elizabeth of Glamis, not forgetting the radio. Believe it or not, but I have never appreciated the fact that both the Queen and Princess Margaret were born by caesarian section.

Driving lesson 6.30 to 7.30. A hopeless lesson really. Quite scrappy from my point of view - but he didn't despair really. Read all evening. Such a lazy existence isn't it?

Hear that Sue and Toffer are selling the CW for £15,000 and buying a public house in Wales for £37,000, near the coast. Sue wanted to take a pub last year but changed her mind. I don't think they are movingt till August, because Lynn says the couple who are taking on the CW will not be married until July. Life will not be the same without dear Sue Riley.

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Tuesday March 19, 1974

Lovely Spring day - all sunshine and cool breezes. The EP certainly has a shock in store for us all this evening. The front page is splattered with silly rumours of a possible divorce between Princess Margaret and the Earl of Snowdon. Utter poppycock! We are all aware that the princess and Tony lead separate existences, but divorce is out of the question. The sister of the Queen of England would be unable to divorce and remain in line to the Crown - and the annuity would be out straight away. Let's face it - Tony is a Casanova and always will be - his current mistress is the notorious Lady Harlech, and his infatuation with Lady Jackie Rufus-Isaacs is a known thing. Evidently, the princess is still in the far flung reaches of the West Indies where she winters on herv own little island with the middle-aged heir of Lord Glenconner.

Driving lesson at 6.30 - quite good. Lynn and I go to the CW at 7.30 - I sit with Sue watching tv and chatting about old times until 10. The baby is fabulous - not at all like either parents. He was just how I imagined he would be. Tucked up in his own room surrounded by millions of cuddly elephantsand Teddy bears - completely spoilt. Home at 10.30.

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Wednesday March 6, 1974

Lynn's birthday. John gave her £2, and so did I. Susan made a contribution, but obviously she couldn't give as much as we did. No large family celebration will take place, and instead she's taking a party out to dinner this evening. Martyn, Alison, Christine Dibb, Peter and Susan all to the CW. No doubt they'll all get merry - if Toffer has anything to do with it.

I go to bed unusually early, and when Lynn comes in after 12 she reeks of pernod - but is not intoxicated. Grief, I cannot understand why she enjoys birthdays so much - personally I cannot pretend to become over enthusiastic with my annual anniversary, but I suppose the female angle on birthdays makes them more enjoyable.

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Thursday January 3, 1974

Awake feeling terrible. A runny nose, watery eyes, dry throat, blocked ears. Terrible. Stagger to Guiseley for the 8.20 train. See Judith who says I should not have ventured out in my condition. The weather is also terrible. Icy wind and very thick frost. I can feel it getting on to my chest. A nasty cough is round the corner.

Poor Dad spent the day in bed after being horribly sick in the night. The meal at the CW cannot have agreed with his digestive juices. However, Auntie Hilda has also been violently sick recently, but her case can be diagnosed very easily. If you drink an entire bottle of Bacardi you cannot expect to feel bright and breezy for a couple of days. She denies that the drink is the culprit, saying it must have been something she ate at our buffet!

Stagger home from the YP and go early to bed.Decide not to go in tomorrow because I do not intend killing myself for the sake of a cheap little newspaper.

Sit, propped up by pillows, until 8.20 when I fall asleep.

The papers are still full of the Prince of Wales and Lady Jane Wellesley. Somehow I can't see anything coming out of this affair at all. The Mail says Charles is only using her as a cover for Lady Cecil Kerr, a Catholic. I don't know what to think.

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Wednesday January 2, 1974

Back to the YP after the day off. Mother and Father's birthdays. Poor Dad is 40. Mother is 39. Don't want to write much because I feel uncomfortably ill. Of all the ways to begin a New Year this must be the worst.

Hear from Lynn that Sue Riley had a baby boy on December 30. Samuel is his name.

Mum and Dad go to the CW for dinner. It upsets Dad's stomach. He probably over ate.

Bed at 12.30.

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Thursday December 27, 1973

I wonder if Sue Riley's given birth yet? When I pass the CW on the bus I see no sign of life and therefore pressume that the poor girl is in the clinic suffering the rigours of childbirth. The little blighter is already four days late. Discussing this with Mother she says I came on the exact appointed day; John should have been born on September 22; Lynn was six days late and I think she said Susan was early.

Rushed home from the YP in order to prepare for this so-called party in Horsforth. Hell, what a total disaster the evening was. Arrive at the house at 8.30. And from the start Helen Taylor thinks that she has me hooked. After 90 minutes of wandering around the streets of misty Horsforth - past June's house - I tell it's no good us starting anything permanent. I admit to her that June is still the only girl in my life. She begins to cry outside Diane Rushworth's house in Horsforth and I make a hurried departure. I do so hate upsetting these females, but what else can I possibly do?

Pam Barlow rang to invite me to Judith Lea's party on Saturday - I refuse, using Chris as an excuse. Helen also asked me to go to the same party - not knowing that Pamela is also after me too. Generally an intolerable evening.

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Tuesday December 18, 1973

Interesting day at the YP. Worked a shift for Lynn at the Chuck Wagon this evening . Saw Sue (Riley) who is expecting her first child in six days. She's quite massive and is now much more blond and with very short hair. Toffer is much the same. Quite busy for a Tuesday. 

Les, (they say he's "queer") brought me home in his Bentley at 11.45. Had a bath in the newly decorated bathroom, and the new carpet, fitted today, is superb. Not tired at all. Bed 1.30am. 

 PS - Pam Barlow rang whilst I was out. What can she possibly want ? 

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Tuesday July 3, 1973

Benton Park is terrible without June. Spent the whole day doing absolutely nothing. I can hardly wait to start my job with the council - and all those evenings absolutely free!

The weather is very changeable, but who cares? Where I'm going next week I don't care if monsoons sweep across Yorkshire.

At 7 o'clock go down to the Chuck Wagon - see the new chef - and after being told that he was a queer I imagined to behold some gigantic fairy, prancing from griddle to sink. He didn't look odd at all! In fact, he seemed quite a good sort of bloke really. Work until nearly 1. Read Prince Philip's biography and come to bed at 1.35. Before retiring, I write a letter to June.

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Saturday June 30, 1973

My last Saturday at the CW. Get up at 8.30 to the sound of concrete pouring onto the drive. Papa is re-laying the drive immediately in front of the garage. Get up and act as labourer to Dad and John until 10.30. Mother, Lynn and Sue have breakfast whilst John and I prepare to go to Bradford - haircut.

Leave 11. A brilliant sunny, hot day. Walk all the way to the bottom of Hawksworth Lane and then have to walk all the way back up to collect my library books - get the bus at 11.30. Have our hair cut at 12.30 - 45p each - not bad at all. On the way to the bus we see 'Aunt Bore' - she really is a catty old cow, putting it politely. Arrive Guiseley 1.30.

Go to Usshers where John buys sunglasses. See Dave with Mick Orchard - heading to Leeds shopping - looking very secretive.

Go to Fieldhead Road School gala. See Mrs West, James, Mrs Kingsbury, etc. Mr Illingworth really is a snob and a pig. Just because Papa and Mama are not members of the Parents Teachers' Association he choses to ignore us. Good luck to the old creep, that's what I say.

Arrive home where Mum entertains Maureen, her old school mate from the 1700s.

Go to CW. Pauline is with a darker mop of dyed hair. She's sad that it's my final Saturday - or so she says. Unusual night. Home by 1.30. Bed at 2.0am.

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Friday June 29, 1973

Sue and Toffer back from France. Get up at 8 o'clock. School at 10 o'clock. Have a really hysterical day. Dave tearing up his Cumming and Stanlake reference books. MM is disgusted at his behaviour.

Go see Mrs Lane about all my text books and something about open day on July 7. Grief! Back to the workhouse tonight! See Groves about my police grant thing - he reads me the comments he's made about my character - cannot be disappointed really.

Come home and Mum tells me that Bill has got me the painting job - I am ecstatic. Decide immediately that the Chuck Wagon and I are over. Lynn and Christine D promise to take-over on our return from Italy.

Go to the CW at 7.30. Warn Sue of what is happening - she does not really object - but was banking on me staying until September. Finish at about 1. Arrive home in time to see John arriving home from the Intercon. I cannot believe my eyes. Willie's car is smashed in at the front. They've had a bump but I am assured that it wasn't Willie's fault. Stagger to bed.

Here's what Groves said about me: 'Michael spent the first five years of his secondary school career in a secondary modern school and there can be little doubt that 'failure' in the eleven-plus selection procedure deprived him of confidence and inhibited him intellectually. Certainly he is not in the first rank in terms of ability but he has gained in confidence and he has found that he can succeed in Ordinary and Advanced Level work and his past performance probably does him much less than justice as a guide to his future potential. He has already gained C.S.E. Grade 1 passes in History and Religious Education. He has passed the G.C.E. Ordinary Level in Art, Grade 2, and English, Grade 6, and this summer he sat examinations in Advanced Level History and Ordinary Level Economics. His written expression is seen to be improving and has reached an adequate standard and his oral performance is becoming more articulate as he overcomes his shyness. Michael is a rather quiet young man of pleasant disposition and even temperament. He has shown a commendable determination and strength of purpose in overcoming early setbacks to get this far along his chosen path and I have no doubt that these same qualities will serve him well in the future. I am glad to support this application.'

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Tuesday June 26, 1973

Aaaarrghh!! I can't stand it! TENNIS is back at Wimbledon! Another fortnight of boredom, misery and petty nonsensical sport. A good cartoon in the Daily Mail this morning. A baby is throwing a screaming tantrum on the beach, mother turns to father and says: "I'm sure he'll be a tennis star when he grows up, because he's such a horrible little boy."

The weather is really terrible once again. But humid and uncomfortably warm. Stay in bed until 10.30. Mother is still unwell. Clear up the breakfast things and so the housework for her. Have a bath at 11.45 and make a bit of lunch - Mother waits to have hers with Father. She gets up at 1.30. I walk down the lane and catch a bus to Rawdon at 2.30. Drop in at school. Christine is bored to death. I go to the library and come back to school at 4 and see Groves about a special police grant. He's very helpful. Sit with Christine, Andy Graham and Irene until 4.30. See Mrs Capstan-Fullstrength. Walk down for the bus home in pouring rain - Christine has her raincoat on her head. Get the 4.45 55 bus. Home for dinner. And yes, tennis on the tv. Come upstairs in disgust. I'm too bored for words. Never did I think I would be wishing Sue and Toffer a hasty return - but I need the money and the work will occupy my time. Roll on Friday.
But at the same time I miss the idea of going out on Friday and Saturday evenings - hate to think that everyone is enjoying life whilst I slave over a hot sink. See tv and read until bed.


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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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