Tuesday April 10, 1979

_.  Jim Rawnsley insists that the so-called Yorkshire Ripper is none other than the Earl of Harewood, our ugly royal opera fanatic. Jim's theory is that he [the Ripper] has to be a member of the Royal Family in the tradition of Jack the Ripper, of Victorian London, who undoubtedly was Edward, Prince of Wales. I smiled at all this as we journeyed to Leeds because Jim expounds his theory in such a charming and amusing way. Wouldn't it be marvellously embarrassing for the YP if this was so? Whilst the fiend was in the boardroom swilling gin and humming along to Wagner with Gordon Linacre, forty thousand journalists are scouring the county searching for clues. Sadly, the identikit mug shots of the supposed mad man bear no resemblance to his Lordship. Another likely candidate, according to Jim, is Brigadier Kenneth Hargreaves, the former Lord Lieutenant of this charming, picturesque county.

I am enraged and spitting blood at the bloody civil servants strike, which is affecting the payment of my national savings certificate. I need £120 in May [to pay for my holiday] and things don't look very bright at all. The pigs wouldn't be on strike at all if only this country had the proper leadership. What are we coming to, for God's sake?

I have been reading my journal from five years ago and do you know I seem to have been more intellectual and mature than I am now. Writing about Napoleon III and his social policy I was. Blimey, it's quite frightening but I've already forgotten most of my history and Napoleon III means little or nothing to me now. Is my brain rotting away?

Mum and Dad went off to see Marlene and then Mabel after tea. They say they will lend me the £120 until my national savings money arrives.

Sue is full of cold again and her nose is glowing like a furnace. Pete arrived and we watched the Academy Awards on TV.

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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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Wednesday April 11, 1973

Got up at 8 o'clock. Have breakfast and then get a lift with Mr Rawnsley to Quaker Lane. Arrive at school at 9.10. Mrs Lane goes over Sheila's Napoleon III and Suez essays. She ended her Suez essay with the line: "it proved that world politics had changed considerably since the days of Palmerston." Very hysterical. Talk about stating the obvious. Even I know more than that.

Mr Ayling didn't turn up at the first lesson because of a family bereavement. He did, however, arrive after lunch. From 2.30 until 4 o'clock we put up the Christmas decorations for tonight's party. What a laugh it was. Denny and Chris could do nothing but laugh. June sat in a corner reading - very intellectual. Came home on the 4.45 bus. June waved goodbye from my bus stop. She's gorgeous.

At about 7.30 I got to the Emmotts where a crowd of lower 6th boys were sitting coyly. Dave, who had picked me up in the car, was wearing his new platform shoes and white bags. June wasn't on the 7.30 bus - Janet came on it instead. Lynne Robinson, my old neighbour from years ago, came in at about 7.45. She said hello. Louise and Denny went over to speak to her. June, Sue B and a few friends arrived at about 8. She was full of apologies but I only laughed and bought her and Janet a drink. At 8.30 Dave took Denny and Louise down to school. The rest of us waited to be taken down in the second batch. We set off ten minutes later. June sat on my knee in the front. We followed Tim in his mini bus - what a terrible driver he is. We were immediately disappointed by the music - it was a selection of Chid's progressive rubbish - the sort of that bangs on in a erratic fashion and the sort you've never heard before. We did not dance much. June looked lovely in a pink flowery dress covered in pleats. Dave and Janet seemed to be taking notice of each other. How marvellous it would be if they could get together. Harry came as ususal. He tried to get off with Sue Bottomley. He walked her to the bus stop. June and I could not help laughing. After seeing the girls on the bus Harry and I went back to the 6th form block. To our horror and amazement - everyone had gone. I ran down Quaker Lane where Dave was wondering aimlessly in his car - I was so surprised to see him. He brought me home dropping me at the door at 11.45. Auntie Hilda and Uncle Tony were here. Came to bed at 1.

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Tuesday April 10, 1973

Go to school on the 8.30 bus. Go straight into the corner booth and continue with my Napoleon III essay and do not move until 11.45. June keeps making fleeting appearances but is otherwise kept busy by Mrs Telford in the FE Department. At 11.30 after finishing 20 sides of Napoleon III I begin my Suez esssay which I finish precisely at 11.45 - how's that for knocking on! Mrs Lane comes across and goes through my essays. I am the only one to have completed the two. She likes them both but thinks that I am too kind to Napoleon III. She doesn't believe he did anything for the working classes, but I rather think he was a hard-working bloke, not as mysterious as Napoleon I. Go down to lunch at 12.30. At 1.50 Mrs Lane begins once again on my essays. She laughed at the comment made by Randolph Churchill that no aspect of the Suez Crisis can be considered until one remembers that "Sir Anthony Eden was a very sick man at the time." We also argued that Eden did not "fall" as Churchill says in his "Rise and Fall of Sir Anthony Eden". Eden never fell. He simply resigned his post as Premier. June gave me a wonderful photograph of herself taken by her brother-in-law. She looks really terrific. Mum says she looks serene and Sue said she was the image of Queen Victoria in her youth. June wouldn't like to hear that. What an insult to a rabid Marxist. Went to work at 7.30. Quite busy. Sue asks me to work on Thursday. I said I would. I must be raving mad! -==-

Monday April 9, 1973

Got up at nearly 8 o'clock. After breakfast I went to Leeds on the 9 o'clock 55 bus. Arrived at 10 and spent half an hour walking around trying to find the place of my intended x-ray. Cross the threshold of Leeds radiography centre at 10.30. A nasty, authoritarian bitch asks me to take my jacket off and stand in front of a screen pulling my shoulders out of their sockets in the process. She tells me to take a deep breath and then flees the room. Forcing me back into my clothes she shouts "next" and I find myself out in the brilliant sunshine again after only 2 minutes inside.

Being an intelligent person I brought Auntie Mabel's gift voucher with me. I made my way to Boots where I bought the BBC 50 years commemorative LP. It costs me £3.75, but my voucher helps towards the cost. Got a 35 bus at 11.15. Home for 12 - just in time for lunch with Mum and Dad who like my new record very much. I played the entire record which takes us to 1.45.

Mum suggests I stay at home this afternoon to complete my essay on Napoleon III - which I do. After 15 sides of paper and three arguments with Dad I find that is 4.30. No matter what Dad says - even utter rubbish - he can make it seem perfectly correct. He ought to have been a university lecturer. We argued about the Duke of Argyll living in France and only coming back to Britain for free medical assistance. All I can say is: well, it's a free democracy and people should have the right to come and go whenever they please. However, Dad hates the idea of people sciving off paying taxes. Anyway, the Duke of Argyll died yesterday which only goes to show that the national health system is out-moded and useless.

June rang at 7 thinking I must have contracted a malignant tumour after being x-rayed - very sweet and amusing of her.

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Thursday March 22, 1973

OUR 7TH ANNIVERSARY!! Got up at 7.30 and had my breakfast listening to the Tony Blackburn Show. Left for school on the 8.30 bus. June arrived at her customary hour of 9.45. Groves gave one of his weekly futile lectures. We decided to go the Emmotts tonight. But this is merely a formality. Where else can we go? Mrs Lane's History lessons was once again spent pulling Napoleon III to bits. My essay had better be good when I hand it in on Apr 10. The weather is again quite remarkable for March and the sun was shining brilliantly over Rawdon when June and I went for our regular excursion to Riggs and Hinchcliffes. Before lunch we actually sat outside with Dave in some made attempt to do a spot of reading on Napoleon III, but the breeze, June, and the brilliant sun prevented any serious revision. The afternoon was rather exciting. Yes, Thursday afternoon actually lived up to its name of destruction, fire, misery and deluge, etc. Christine B, Louise and I went to see an old man in Rawdon to invite him to one of Christine's OAP orgies a week on Friday. He was very amusing. Having had his 85th birthday on Sunday. We then went to see an old woman who refused to commit herself due to ill health. On leaving old Mrs Whatsit, Christine departed for home forthwith at 3.20, whilst Louise and I made our way back to school. After about 10 minutes the fire alarm went off in the main school, and the 6th form came out for the laugh. However, Mr Ayling, who was with Dave's mob in the lower classroom, was unable to get out owing to the fact that the door handle had been removed. In a real fire situation he would of course have fried! Bus stop and affectionate kisses at 4.50. No sooner home then off again down the lane to meet June. We sit drinking lager until 9, when Chris, Christine, Andy and Linda asked us to go to the golf club disco. June refused. I would have willingly gone, but June had other designs. We remained at the Emmotts until nearly 11. She felt extremely guilty at denying me the pleasure of going to a disco. But we had a very good time. She is so sweet. At the bus stop June was followed by a over affectionate Airedale terrier. Even dogs are swept of their feet by her beauty, gentleness and charm. --==--

Wednesday March 21, 1973

The first day of Spring! Got up at the late hour of 8am. After a suitable breakfast I received a lift from Dad to Rawdon. Arrived at 9. The weather was beautiful all day. The long range weather forecast says Britain is in for a fabulous summer. I am pessimistic here. Dave and I sat watching June walking up the path into school. He remarked on the tiny, mincing steps she takes. We both dissolved into fits of laughter. June is too delightful for words. Mrs Lane's double lesson passed remarkably well. Carol Bailey and I were pulling Napoleon III to bits. What a laugh! In Economics we went through "The Economist", covering some amusing points about Chinese exports of Wellington boots and jade pottery, etc. At lunchtime June persuaded me not to have my usual fish and nerks. "How can you eat greasy fish and chips on a beautiful day like this?" she said. Which is rather a poor excuse because she always finds something wrong with eating fish and chips. She says the same in the fog, rain, typhoon and hurricane. Originally we intended going out tonight but on revising our monetary situation at the bus stop we decided to postpone our evening out until the traditional Thursday liaison. Groves actually turned up at the Current Affairs lesson and we discussed film censorship corelated with the growth of violence in the UK. At 4.20 we went down to Cleggs, where June and I indulged in our usual Cream Eggs. We have been going out for 7 weeks tomorrow! Heard some remarkable news today. Apparently Dave is going to ask Ruth Ashmore out. She is one of the few girls I have ever seen who looks just the same at the front as she does at the back! However, it's every man to his own, eh? Came home at 5. Bed at 11. --==--

Tuesday March 20, 1973

What a day! Awoke at 7.30. Mum was tearing round the house screaming with excitement. She's won a day trip to London with £50 to spend on clothes. She entered a fashion competition in the Yorkshire Evening Post. She can hardly believe it. She was still chasing around in a mad panic when I left for school accompanied by Lynn and Alison at 8.20. It's the first time that Mum has won anything. She travels to London on Tuesday April 3.

Christine Braithwaite and MM were fun at school this morning. June arrived at 9.30. Just before she arrived Mrs Harris came in to say that June's file is missing, going on to say: "June is floating four feet above the ground at the moment, and cannot be bothered to find her file". What was Mrs Harris implying by this remark?

During Mrs Lane's 1st lesson I was reading my book on the History of Modern France 1800-71. Napoleon III was certainly a comical chap, and the historians do tend to "over do" his greatness somewhat. But what else can they do when they're doing the bloke's biography?

At lunchtime June and I made our usual excursion to Rigg's. The weather is really beautiful. Tomorrow is the first day of Spring. Passing the telephone box in Rawdon I had the idea of ring Mum saying I was Norman Hartnell seeking her sound fashion advice! June persuaded me to do otherwise.

Mrs Lane's afternoon lesson was very interesting. Liz Clapham, Mrs Lane's only lower 6th pupil came into our lesson to hear us discuss Chartism and its achievements. The first reaction is that chartism achieved nothing, which narked Mrs Lane. Her theory is this:-

Parliamentary Reform 1832 --->enabled the growth of chartism 1830s/40s/50s (a bit thin aint it?) - - -> model trade unions and working class organisations 1850s/60s - - - >Parliamentary Reform 1867 - - - >led to the Ballot Act 1872 - - - >etc

In the last 2 lessons we had our usual orgy of fun, frolic and excitement. Denise sold me a piece of liquorice stick, which I haven't seen in years. Dave also had some. June and I made our usual trek to the bus stop. My bus came at 4.50. We kissed goodbye.

Had tea and went to work. Home at 12 midnight. Very tired.

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