Friday June 14, 1974

Scorching hot day. Up at 8.30 after a terrible night. Far too warm for comfort. John and Sheila go off to work and I persuade John to leave the house at 10.15. See in the morning papers that the Prince of Wales is dating a 20-year-old American, Laura Jo Watkins, and she was in the House of Lords yesterday to see him make his maiden speech to the peers.

Outside Windsor Castle by 10.20. A crowd gathers to see the goings on. See Edward Heath come, then Jeremy Thorpe and finally Harold Wilson. The Royal procession leaves Victoria Barracks, and 5 princes follow the cortege: the Prince of Wales, Duke of Edinburgh, the new Duke of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent and Prince Michael of Kent. We have a perfect view of the mourners, and they process through Windsor to the castle passing John and I not 3 yards away. Didn't see the Queen because she was already at the castle before the funeral.

Because of the heat John and I return to the house, where we see the funeral on tv.

Later: we take John and Sheila to the Hart and Garter in Windsor for a meal. Very enjoyable, and the bill, excluding wine etc, is only £7.50. Home and bed at 12.

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Tuesday May 21, 1974

A cold, rainy day. Mum and Dad go to Nottingham to be with poor Auntie Eddy, who is beside herself with worry. Lynn comes home from school at 2.30, her exams having finished, and she prepares for Al Dixon's birthday celebrations tonight. Listen to a few records and then leap into a hot bath. Leaving at 4 I think I have avoided the rain but to my horror I find a deluge awaiting me in Leeds.

YP quite busy and we nip out at 9 for a few drinks in the Central where we see Peter Lazenby, John Morgan, etc. Pete tells me that the County Arcade in the city centre was razed to the ground earlier this evening. Pity really. Get taxi at 12 and find everyone in bed. Do likewise.

The EP revealed that the Duke of Edinburgh is to visit Guiseley on July 10. The duke is to attend a meeting at Aireborough Grammar School before going on to Bradford, no doubt passing the end of our lane.

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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. -==-

Tuesday January 29, 1974

Dad points out that in the present 'crisis' the Royal Family know what to do and that is to get out! It seems as though the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince of Wales, Princess Anne and Capt Phillips are all out of the UK. Even Lord Snowdon seems to have deserted the sinking ship. However, the good old Queen Mother is still moving among us, and what we woulod do without that dear lady I shudder to think.

Quite a busy day. Typed the paper up this morning. Janice was on half-day. I am taking Thursday and intend goint to Rawdon Library and calling in at Benton Park.

Train strikes will take place next week, and I am now beginning to seriously wonder whether the whole country will live to see the first daffodil of Spring. A General Strike cannot now be avoided. Lord Carrington made suggestions that a 'Two Day Week' will be seriously considered by the Cabinet. The Confederation of British Industry says economic collapse of unprecedented proportions can only arise from such an action...and all MPs can find to argue about is whether it is immoral for a man and his wife to take a bath together! I think it's a very good thing. The poor woman who suggested the idea must think that is an original idea! All the best couples have bathed together since the beginning of time.

Mum and Dad go to Esholt at 9. Sue and I make beans on toast. See a good tv programme about Hugh Heffner, owner of the magazine 'Playboy'. Oh, what it must be like to own all that wealth!

(Greed, greed, envy envy, etc).

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Thursday January 24, 1974

I have finally rid myself of the old bag - namely Miss W. Things should now begin to brighten up. Anne and I discussed the changes we'd like to see at the YP whilst going for the train. Sarah, Carol, Kathleen etc, had gone with Miss W to the party in Mr Linacre's private suite -

Feel very tired on the train and sleep until we reach Guiseley station. At home, Mother entertains me with her home-made tea cakes. Nothing quite equals the smell of warm, newly baked loaves of bread.

See Prince Philip opening the Commonwealth Games in Christchurch on behalf of the Queen on tv. The poor duke looked quite ill bare-headed in the hot New Zealand sun. He read the Queen's message in a hoarse voice, and by the look of things he won't be with us for his 53rd birthday.

See Jimmy Savile on Top of the Pops. 'Tiger Feet' by Mud pushed the New Seekers from the number one spot on Tuesday. It's truly an amazing little disc. Everyone enjoys it.

Still reading Sir Thomas More. Have a bath. Generally a momentous day on all accounts. Let's hope Kathleen doesn't change from her lovable self. A quick surge of power can often ruin a sane being.

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Monday September 3, 1973

A very important day for the USSR and for me. They had a visit from Prince Philip and I returned to Benton Park. I cannot decide which is the more important of the two.

Go to Benton at 9 and discover, to my horror, that I am now the oldest pupil in the 6th form and thus in the entire school. How horrid. I am the sole survivor from last year's upper 6th. I now know just how Lord de Courcey felt in 1936 when he found himself the last survivor of the 'Charge of the Light Brigade': ANCIENT!

Spend the day planning the timetable and listening to Groves rambling on. See Mrs Lane and Mr Ayling. Both unnecessarily sympathetic. Sit with Christine, MM, Liz Clap, and Maggie Edwards.

Prince Philip, God bless him, became the first prince of the UK to visit the USSR since before 1917. I suspect that he's gone ahead to plan a state visit by the Queen in a couple of years time. Prince Philip was certainly in his element with all that informality. Princess Anne is already at Kiev and Mark Phillips is going either tomorrow or on Wednesday.

Spend the evening watching the television. Bed by 12.0.

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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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Sunday June 10, 1973

Whit Sunday. HRH Prince Philip is 52. Get up at 7am. Feeling full of cold. My sinuses playing me up. Revise Gladstone until after 8. Drift off back to sleep until 12. Over lunch we discuss Italy. Go upstairs for a bath at 2.

Good old Prince Philip is 52 years old today - one noticeable thing about the duke is that he never ages. He always looked 50 - even when he was 25.

Revise until 8pm. Watch a film - very good. Revise until 12. Come to bed at 12.

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Tuesday April 3, 1973

You simply would not believe that the change in the weather could be so swift as it has been today. The sun was shining and a pleasant breeze blew the trees into a mad frenzy.

It was announced today that the Duke of Edinburgh is to visit the USSR in September. It's happened at last. I realise they would either send him or the Queen, because anything seems possible these days. To think that the Russians murdered Prince Philip's relations back in 1917. But the Russians will not be embarrassed. Princess Anne is also going, with Mark Phillips, for horse trials there. By the way, my view that the princess and the lieutenant will become engaged at Easter seems unlikely.

At school I continued battling through King George III which is very interesting and readable. Mrs Lane nearly broke down in complete hysteria when I told her of the way in which George II died. He was taking his morning cup of chocolate in his bathroom when he fell, and to quote Brooke: "delivered himself insensible on the corner of a bureau."

Mum today went to London to collect her £50 worth of clothes won in the newspaper competition. On my arrival home from the Chuck Wagon I found Mum in bed with her offerings hung upon the door. She enjoyed the day itself more than the actual gifts - which to me seem a little over-done and gory. She saw Eamonn Andrews with his wife in a London restaurant. According to Mum the man looks much better off the screen. I think he is a proper idiot. Work was nice. Sue R gave me a bottle of gancia "champagne" for my birthday, plus a card and a pair of paper doilies, not forgetting the brillo pad. What a sense of humour she has! Went to bed at 12.30.

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