Saturday August 23, 1980

_. Up at 11 and straight on the blower to Ally to discuss the agenda for the day. Rock with horror when she informed me that she is doing the nauseating Mrs Stringer  'a favour' by working both day and night at the Belfry. Evidently, a deaf and dumb couple are being joined in Holy Matrimony, and clearly deaf and dumb nuptials take precedence over my entertainment. Ally is very gifted and can no doubt hold a tray of 'welcome' drinks and perform sign language at the same time. I left the conversation shocked and disturbed.

I took up a copy of the late Joyce Grenfell's biography and read. This was the sum of my day.

Rathbone as Richard III.

Tonight Mama and Papa went to Joe and Anne Grunwell's, leaving me with Joyce Grenfell on paper, and Basil Rathbone as Richard III on film, and a 1938 film at that. Far from satisfactory.

John and Maria were on the phone from Lochans. I answered the call and an appealing voice said: 'Hi'. I replied: 'Hello, JPH.' Long pause, and I said: 'You don't know who this is, do you?' He replied: 'Of course I do, Christopher.' I asked my nephew about Catherine, to which he replied in a Scottish tones: 'She's away to her bed. She's only a wee baby.' Surely, an amazing child.

To bed at 1:45am.

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Friday August 22, 1980

Dallas: over-rated

_. Part from Ally at 7:45 and took the express coach to Leeds, arriving an hour later. Felt sick and tired like I usually do on a Friday morn. At noon I could stand no more, and left for home. Found Mum and Dad in the garden. I bid my farewells and went to bed until 6pm, much to Mum's disgust.

Up at 6pm to a 'breakfast' of bacon and beans, just like Jesse James might have done a century ago. Afterwards, my parents left, in paint covered rags, to Mabel's, yet again, leaving me in my solitude by a steaming television set.

Watched 'Dallas', an over-rated, much publicised US TV series, and then a play about Molière, which was good. Mum and Dad came in at 11:30 and I was in the middle of Lawrence of Arabia. Dad, of course, is named after T.E. Lawrence, a particularly favourite hero of my scatty grandfather. Bed at 1am. Mum and Dad had seen Mum's dreadful sister-in-law, Kathleen, at Mabel's. Poor thing.

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Thursday August 21, 1980

Anna Wallace: engaged

_. The usual blurb in the Press heralds Princess Margaret's 50th birthday. Roddy, they say, is reputedly fading, but I cannot imagine why.

Anna Wallace, once tipped as a future Queen, has announced her engagement to Lord Hesketh's brother, Johnny. Very disturbing. Will the Prince of Wales ever succeed in getting his gal?

To Ally's at 5. Hot and sunny. Broke the Baker news to her. She has been expecting this news since their holiday, and she thinks Lynn looked 'plump' on Sue's wedding photos.

Out at 8:30 to the Junction [?] in Thornton where we were joined at 9 by Catherine Brook, and her accomplice David. ________. A steady, careful couple. Ally and I [after fish and chips in the car] went to Oakwood. No comparison to Nito's. Home at 2 and drank black coffee until 3. Booked an alarm call for morning, just to be on the safe side.

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Wednesday August 20, 1980

_. Home at 5:30. Lynn was there for tea. She sat in the sitting room [where else?] looking pale and tired. Dave arrived at about 7:30 and she asked me how I fancy being an uncle in April! Bless them. They are expecting a tiny Baker. She is now going part-time at Yorkshire Light Aircraft. The doctor only confirmed her condition at 5:15, and she wants to keep the pregnancy secret until October. The baby is due on my 26th birthday. Dave has a bad head, and they left for Burley at about 8:30. I told Lynn to name a daughter Christiana, after our great-grandmother, who was born in Dec, 1866.

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Tuesday August 19, 1980

_. YP: Kathleen's father hasn't succumbed to a heart attack. He had a diabetic collapse, whatever that is. K took the whole of last week as sick leave. Nobody else would have got away with this. Officially, you get three days off for a death in the immediate family, and one day for a birth.

My contributions to the People column are at a standstill owing to the absence, only temporarily, of Bob Cockroft. A Van Straubenzee girl has become engaged  to a nephew of the Marquess of Anglesey, but otherwise all is quiet in the bracken.

Susie phoned tonight and Mum and Dad went down to West End Terrace for an hour leaving me slouched in front of the TV.

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