Wednesday May 30, 1979

_. To the library and renewed my lease on Queen Mary I and collected Agnes Strickland's 'Lives of the Queen's of England' Volume 1, published in the 1850s, but now an undoubted classic. This first volume covers the period from the wife of William the Conqueror to the last Plantagenet Queen Consort. My only knowledge of the Conqueror's wife, Matilda, is that she was perhaps the most diminutive consort and that she hailed from Flanders. No doubt Agnes Strickland with broaden my knowledge.

Pouring rain. Home at 5pm, and straight out to the White Cross with Sue and Pete. At 6pm we went over to the indian restaurant (Prachee) for curries. My prawn dish was far too hot and I didn't enjoy it one bit. Tears rolled down my red, sweaty face. Later, back at the White Cross. Whisky by this time. Alas, Peter wanted to watch the European Cup final on TV and he had to have his way, of course. I sat reading of the murderous exploits of 'Bloody Mary' with Brian Clough droning on as a backcloth. Poor Mary had an unfortunate existence, but who could have anything otherwise with Henry VIII as a father? Bed at about 11.

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