Saturday December 7, 1974

YP until 4. Doesn't feel like a Saturday at all. The papers are full of the 'plane crash in Rawdon last night, in which eight men died. I wondered what all the fuss was as I passed through Rawdon. Never seen so many ambulances in one place at once.

Kathleen had a go at me this morning about doing a days' work! I sit biting my tongue because if anyone does two days work in one day it's Mr Bloody Michael Bloody Rhodes!

Do filing till 4, then attempt to get a bus home, which I do successfully at 5.30. All the buses are packed out and I don't fancy having to use West Yorkshire transport after my pass expires on Dec 21. It's back to the trains for me.

Dog tired on my arrival at Pine Tops and sleep in the chair whilst the TV moans miserably in the background. John, Lynn and Dave Baker go with the crowd to Philip Cartwright's annual Conservative Christmas orgy - attended by the Right Honourable Giles Shaw, MP no less.

I see a film with Mum and Dad and sit with a glass of horrid sherry and a packet of Polish cigs. Bed at about 12. Makes a changing staying within the precincts of ones own home.

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Friday May 17, 1974

Woken up by Dad at 1.15pm! Mum comes home expecting to find the lunch prepared but is sadly disappointed by the sight she receives. Dad is working at 2, so you can imagine the hurry he was in. A boring afternoon and go to the YP as usual. Hear on tv whilst in the office that 30 or so people have been blown to bits in Dublin. Kathleen worked until 10 - and I'm sick of writing about work.

Taxi at 12 to Wikis. Groping about in the subdued lighting I stumble upon Chris and John at a table and then saw Peter Mather, who bought me a drink, Andy and of course Linda, Christine W and Laura. To my surprise I see dear Denny, and we, that is Chris and I, have fun playing with the large zip on Denny's suede jacket. On my way to the bar I bump into Judith, of Apperley Lane fame that is, and we drift into a corner with a couple of glasses and laugh at Philip C and Paul, who come over to try and 'break us up'. At 1.30 she takes me back to her place where I drink coffee and play with a little dog. But no 'goings on' if you know what I mean. Lift home at 3 and she doesn't even let me kiss her goodnight, but we exchange telephone numbers and she says she'll ring me next week. Bed at 3.10.

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Thursday May 9, 1974

Quite a nice day actually. Poor Judith R was rather downhearted this evening after undergoing a distressing scene at the bank. Anyway, I soon got her out of it, and we had a hysterical walk home. Tomorrow, when I am working nights, I intend compiling a list of eligible bachelors, purely for fun of course, and send it to Judith. The poor girl wants to settle down with a fat account and a peer of the realm, and knowing Judith, she'll do it. Home at 6.30. Dad tells me a good story about Prince Philip. Jim Barton, a local policeman, was on duty at Leeds City Station when the Queen and Prince Philip were in the vicinity; anyway, Barton was standing guard all alone in a siding as the Royal Train slowly pulled out, passing within yards of the PC. Feeling very much embarrassed the policeman stood to attention and saluted. To his amazement the prince, standing at a window and sporting one of his famous grins, raised his hand and thrusted two fingers into the air, leaving poor Barton stunned on the windswept siding. Of course, I don't believe it. It seems very much in character with the prince, but would he do such a thing to a policeman? Besides, one cannot believe anything a bobby says, especially in the Leeds area anyway. See tv in the evening and toy with the idea of ringing Philip Cartwright about the incident last night. Read 'Mrs Fitzherbert' by Anita Leslie. Very good. -==-

Wednesday May 8, 1974

Nothing at the YP. At 8 John and I go to the Emmotts where we sit with Laura, who is unusually cheerful and she manages to speak to both John and myself. Keith comes at 8.30, and we talk about films until Chris finally decides to walk in at about 9 o'clock.

Philip Cartwright comes up and says the bird with the Alpha Romeo, Judith or something, really fancies me and wants to see me in the Queen's tonight. John, Laura, Keith and Chris all leave at 9.30 and Philip and I go to the Queen's, where the two girls are assembled. We spend about an hour, the four of us, and at closing time they sod off with a couple of blokes leaving Philip and myself looking like a pair of silly buggers. I hate bloody stupid women, and especially women who make decent chaps look like idiots. We both shoot off and Philip drives like Hell let loose. Home at 11. Poor Philip apologises for wasting my evening. Judith, one of the tarts, rings me at about 11.15, but I act very cool. Wounded pride and all that. Must ring Philip tomorrow to see what further developments have occurred. John comes in not long after me and says he's been at the Hare and Hounds. Bed at 11.30. Interesting evening. Women make me sick.

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Friday May 3, 1974

Off all day. Go to Morrison's with Dad and get the weekly supply in. Poor Mummy is still ill and remains in bed until lunchtime. A warm afternoon, but do absolutely nothing at all. Go to the YP on a 33 bus, but do not get to the office until 5.15 and Kathleen, who is chatting with one of the lads, doesn't seem too pleased at my lateness. She goes at 5.30 and I carry on until midnight. An excellent evening and hardly no interference from any of the lads, except one who wanted pictures to illustrate an article on alcoholism, which I couldn't find anywhere.

At around 11 a party of ladies came inspecting the place on a guided tour and I displayed a large selection of coloured photos of Princess Anne's wedding on my desk to give them something to rave about. I never fail to satisfy these visitors, and the guide never suspects that I am only doing these things in order to make his tour all the more exciting.

At 12 I get a taxi on account and get out near Wikis. Find John drunk inside, and see Chris being pestered by Helen, who immediately accosts me and makes me buy her a drink. I pick up two girls and at 2 they take me to their flat on Apperley Lane in a white Alfa Romeo, if that is how one spells it, and Philip Cartwright and Paul also come. At 3 Philip brings me to Hawksworth Lane. John was mad at not being invited.

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Monday January 21, 1974

Miss Went is a very tiresome person. I'll be glad when she's gone. At lunchtime she bought the presents with the £50 we had raised. A silver tray and a watch. My lunch is spent in the reference library. I am disillusioned to discover that the Right Hon William Lawies Jackson was later 1st Baron Allerton, of Chapel Allerton in the county of York. No one from the Wilson family could possibly have married a peer of the Realm. However, my genealogical studies into the roots of the Jackson family are far from over. Come home at 6.30 expecting a peaceful evening, but these dreams are shattered when Andy phones. By 8.30 John, Andy and myself are in the Rose and Crown at Ilkley with Linda and a multitude of college bods. The place is a bit of a tip, with a large reproduction map of 17th century Middlesex in pride of place on the central wall. The wallpaper is made up of completely senseless colours simply hanging in place surrounded by the minimum of furnishings. Philip C and Ray (Bond) come in at 9. At 10.30 a few of us walk to the college, breathing in the sweet moorland air. Ilkley is such a wonderful place. The college is what I expected it to be. Totally institutionalised - like a hospital - lacking in any signs of homely comfort. Thousands pile into Linda and Mary's room. We drink hot, insipid coffee until 12. Philip brings us home - and I'd rather not comment on the journey. Bed 12.30. -==-

Saturday January 19, 1974

Dad wakes me at 6.30. Feel absolutely gone to the world. Deaths door seems very near. Have a shower and listen to a dreadful BBC2 programme. Wake Sue at 7.45 and go for my train at 8. Work is absolutely fabulous. Whilst discussing old people I recall something old Auntie Mary (born 1878) told me about being related to somebody called Jackson who was Lord Mayor of Leeds. On researching this I discover that a William Jackson was Lord Mayor in 1895-6. Knowing Auntie Mary is a reliable source I am enraptured. Jackson went on to become a Member of Parliament. I am the great-great-nephew of a Conservative MP! If I mention this publicly I'll probably be lynched, what with the Three Day Week and the toilet paper shortage. 

 Frank and Marlene and the kids come for tea.Mark brought his Formula One racing cars. 

Frank makes Dad mad by referring to him as 'Uncle Lawrie'. He's only a decade younger than Dad. 

 At 8 John and I go to the Hare and Hounds. Denny and I have a laugh about pretending to be engaged. 

All the mob gathers in honour of the 19th birthday of Linda which takes place on Monday. At 10.30 I go in Philip Cartwright's car to the Cow & Calf. Dance until 2am. The college girls are great fun and we joke about cottage cheese manufacturing! Everyone piles into different cars, and poor Christine W and myself are left in the back of Pete's van. Home at 2.30. Wait in the garage until John comes home with the door key at some later hour. Well, 20 minutes later actually.

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Friday January 11, 1974

Very busy at YP. Rushed like Hell all day. Have a laugh with Anne. Make photostats of a mining accident at Morley in 1872. The detail of the reporting was fantastic - makes todays reporting look very shoddy indeed.

Catch the train at 5.20 - absolutely exhausted. Undecided whether to go out or not. John persuaded me to go the Emmotts, where we sit quite alone until 8.30. Philip Cartwright comes in, followed by Chris and Pete. Andy arrives last of all. Despite all the misery Chris felt about the London trip, it was a tremendous success, and he actually paid a visit to the Tiger Bar (see Oct 1973). Linda and Christine W come in with MM at 9.0 o'clock and we sit telling jokes for the remainder of the evening. MM goes to talk with a foul looking female. Very pleasant evening. Peter takes us all back to Linda's for coffee. Home at 1 after a weird experience with Pete. He kicked us out of the van, in the rain, in Park Road. He's a very sadistic little beast at times.

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Friday December 14, 1973

Uncle Tony 'caught up' with Mother today. He's 38. Haven't seen him or the family since October. This time of the year tends to be a bad one for Auntie Hilda, who becomes depressed at the thought of spending money at Christmas. At the moment her main worry is Uncle Tony. Will he or will he not lose his job in the current economic crisis? We all know he won't, but Auntie Hilda doesn't. She's never content with life like Mum is. Not at all like sisters really. 

 Chris rings at about 7. Meet at the Emmotts at 9 o'clock. Martin Vere-Bujnowski and little Helen join us, with no Laura for a change. She's gone to a disco with Philip Cartwright. Martin and I discuss the party tomorrow evening. He thinks it'll be an absolute orgy... five of each sex... can you blame the poor boy's mind for thinking that way? All get merry. Leave Emmotts at 11.10. Bus home. 

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Sunday December 9, 1973

2nd in Advent. A completely restful day. Listen to Jimmy Savile all afternoon. Dad gives John and me dirty looks through the window - but how can he expect us to leap up and spend all day pulling up the dead foliage in his herbacious border? The sabbath is for rest, and we certainly obeyed that command.

No one rang in the evening and Lynn, Sue and I watched a Stewart Grainger and Jean Simmonds film 'Footsteps in the Fog' - quite thrilling. John went out with Christine W, and Mum and Dad went to Esholt where they saw Chris, Andy and Laura with the Cartwright Set. Mother thinks_____________. I'd better not tell him. He'd never come again. Bed after 'Up Sunday' at 12.

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Saturday December 8, 1973

Get up at about 11. Do absolutely nothing all day, until evening that is. Chris rings early on and says he's going to the Emmotts. I ring Denise who is in the bath, and then have a bath myself. I hear from Chris that Denny purchased a moped the other day! I can just imagine dear Denny racing through the wilds of Arthington like a cat out of hell!

Meet Peter Mather, Philip Cartwright and Finlay - we all rush off to the Commercial at Esholt - Mum and Dad's local. Such a strange pub - more like the drawing room of a Victorian vicarage. Very Dickensian. Philip and Fin go off to do a disco, and we three return to the Emmotts. I have a Guinness and decide I ought to drink it more often. Mind you, anything is better than the Emmotts bitter, which is quite revolting. Peter brings me home after fish and chips from the shop opposite the Emmotts. Go to bed at about 12.30 after watching Phil Silvers on the Parkinson programme - quite funny.

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Friday December 7, 1973

Busy day at the YP. I made photostat copies of all the family births, marriages and death certificates.

A very pleasant evening. Chris, Peter Mather, Laura and her friend Maggie, Andy, Philip Cartwright and myself all went to the Cow & Calf which is now 'Samantha's' - really beautiful now, but the memories of the old place will always linger. Dance until 2.0. Peter brings me home to the door. It is a cold, rainy night. Christmas is only 3 weeks away - not likely to be a white one either.

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Saturday December 1, 1973

Mum gets me up at about 7.30 and I walk into Guiseley at 8 to catch the train to Leeds at about 8.20. A beautiful morning and the sun shines brilliantly, but the snow still refuses to melt.

Mum rings me at the YP at about 11.30 to tell me that John will join me in Leeds at about 12.30. Miss Went lets me go at about 11.50 - and I wander around WH Smiths - Leeds is packed out with Christmas shoppers all in a panic because it is now December. I buy a coat for £13.50.

Very hungry. Arrive home at about 2.0. A nice lunch, then John and I play records until nearly 6 o'clock. See Bruce Forsyth and 'The Generation Game'.

Telephone Chris who says he's going to the Emmotts and then on to Andy's - I say I'll join him. Go to the Emmotts at 8.30 where I sit with Philip Cartwright until 9. Chris and Andy went to Philip's last night and were rendered inoperably drunk - one of Mrs Cartwright's best tables was ruined. Anyway, a crowd gathers and at about 10 o'clock we all go down to Andy's with a pile of bottles ranging from ale to Southern Comfort and brandy. When his parents return Chris, Laura and myself go to a beautiful house near Philip's in the car of a certain Dave, surname unknown, where we remain until 3am. Everyone sits gambling until the cold light of dawn breaks through the Rawdon skies. Me and Chris went into hysterics, and caused damage to the record player, when we came upon a recording of 'Puff the Magic Dragon' - never will I forget the laugh that record gave Chris and myself. I slept on one of those sofas without a back, but with a roll on one end.

At 3am Chris, Andy and myself set off for home. I went to Andy's to collect my jacket, and he tried to persuade me to stay the night. I went on walking home and arrived home at exactly 4.05 - a four mile walk in 65 minutes. This is a remarkable fete for a drunk.

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to be continued

Saturday October 20, 1973

Awakened at 6am by Mrs Ratcliffe. A very cold morning - typical autumn. Waiting outside the Fleece at 6.45, after breakfast of bacon and mushrooms, and it's dark until 7.05. MM is given a lift to the Fleece at 7.10 by his father. The coach arrives not long after. As usual, the seats are far too close together and my knees and neck have to suffer a gruelling 4 hours agony.

Feel very nostalgic when the coach stops in Leicester - it was here where June and I stopped on our way to see the 'Trooping of the Colour' in June.

Arrived London at about 12.30. MM rushes off to Earls Court where he promised to meet Dave at 12. Of course, David didn't turn up, and MM wandered around the Motor Show until 4.30 when he bumped into Philip Cartwright loitering near the Range Rovers.

Andy, John, Chris, Bruno, and myself go to the Tiger Bar on Tower Hill for a so-called lunch which lasts until 2.0. Beer and ham butties - super. By 2.30 we are at the Motor Show after a tiring journey on the underground, where I was accosted by an undesirable gentleman. The puff got off at Kensington, which was of great relief to me.

Spend three hours viewing the new motors. The Rolls were adorable - especially the Rolls Royce Corniche convertable. At 5 we all rushed to Piccadilly - absolutely starved to death. Bruno is on the verge of collapse. By 6 we are settled in a good restaurant - but the service was terrible. The lights of Piccadilly are fantastic - I've never seen London on a night before. Well, I have, so to speak, but that was in 1968, and I don't remember much.

At 8 we are back in the Tiger Bar. To my knowledge I drank five Pernods, four Cinzanos, 1 whisky and a pint - you won't believe it, but I wasn't even drunk. Chris wasn't feeling too well and he was also quite sober. Everyone else was quite gone.

Saw a beautiful tart, almost naked, dancing to "Ooh That Lady" by the Isley Brothers. She was in a cage suspended in the air.

The singing on the coach was amusing but disgusting - all the other passengers were sober and our party was something of an embarrassment. Photographed at Leicester. Meanwhile, Philip C was sick on the coach - but it was the very pleasant smell of pure Pernod!

Back in Horsforth for 4am. Deep, deep sleep.

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Saturday October 13, 1973

Get up after 10 o'clock. Mother is complaining about the dilapidated condition of the bathroom - so without further pressure being placed upon us - John and I go up and begin decorating. We rub all the gloss paing from the walls, but when Dad comes home we all decide that perhaps the bathroom needs tiling and not painting. Mother also wants a shower fitted.

Mick Knowles and Lynne were married this morning. Christine was a bridesmaid.

Later. Chris rings. I tell him to go to Christine W's house at Yeadon for 8.30. John and I are with her at 8.15. Andy, Chris and Marita____arrive at 8.30. At 8.45 Marita, Chris, John and Christine W, leave for an unknown destination. _____.Andy and I go to the Emmotts where we meet Philip Cartwright, Ray, Steve Cottle, etc. We pile into cars and go to Bramhope, then to the pub where Brian and Valerie had their wedding reception in July. Sit joking and drinking until 11.10. Steve gives me a lift as far as Guiseley Swimming Baths. I walk home. Unknown to me Marita passes me in the other direction on Park Rd. On arrival home John says the 'foursome' had a good time at the Fox and Hounds in Menston.__________.

Later. See a good Cary Grant film. Bed at 1.40. What a fantastic evening we've had for a change. Andy and I may be going swimming at Guiseley baths tomorrow.

--==--

Letter from Christine Braithwaite {Postmark Oct 13, 1973}

Glenview
76, New Road Side
Horsforth
Leeds

Dear Mig,
Thanks for your letter. I only got it this morning - and the letter. Sorry about paper, but I didn't bring any proper notepaper with me. MM's sat writing to David and I'm supposed to be writing an essay, but I can't be bothered so I'll have to make yet another excuse. Well, I found your letter very exhilarating! In fact, it lifted me out of my hum-drum, kitchen-sink drama situation which I appear to be in. (Sorry, I'm in one of those moods ~ Oh!). Your diagrams were exceptionally explanatory, and your rules for terminating consumption of oil were ... dare I say it ...yes, I dare ....  were.....O.K!

There is one point I wish to elaborate on....
I WANT AN UMBRELLA FOR CHRISTMAS! I an cold, wet and hungry because I have been disarmed  of my brolly. Just cut along the dotted line and send a £1 note (no coins please) to the following address: "Glenview, 76, New Road Side, Horsforth, Leeds. <------- ..............="" cur="" here="" nbsp="">

However good your bargain for £89 may sound, I want a brolly!

Michael L. Rhodes I wish to present you with a writ demanding you to appear in court, on the morning of December 17. I am acting on behalf of a certain Miss C. Braithwaite, who is prosecuting you for liable (sic), insisting that, in one of your communcates (sic) to her you said, quote "have you given up the drink?" How could you say such a thing? How could you be so callous? How could you?

Philip and I (sorry, your Majesty) go out only on Fridays and Saturdays now, to try and save some money. We haven't been to the Queen's for ages. We might go down this Saturday though! On Saturday we're going into Leeds, and we might get the ring, I see one I like. We'll probably be getting engaged on December 29 (Saturday), which is the weekend between Christmas  and New Year! But we're not sure yet. When are you getting yourself hitched up then? June was up at school the other day, but she didn't stay long. Your poem referring to Irene (MacMahon\) and Andy Maud (that's the poor fools name!) was stupendous! A copy is contained herewith and within.

Some sad news Mig, please ....... whatever you are doing - stop it, your dirty beggar!....  No please sit down..... I have something to tell you .....are you ready? The Cow and Calf has closed! Arghh! It's now Samantha's and anyone who gets drunk is thrown out! I think the whole thing is positively disgusting - they should have asked us first. No, in fact, it was a bit of a dump, we only went so that we could get drunk - still memories will be nice - and of the Cow and Calf.

Well, must go now - got a lesson - write soon, and don't forget that £1 for my brolly!

Love

Christine (Your Honourable Madame Chairman)

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