Saturday August 10, 1974

Mum gets John and I up at 7.30. To the YP for 9. Pleasant morning at work. I file a lot on President Ford and poor old Nixon.

Darling Denny rings me at about 10.30 enquiring about tonight's arrangemnts for the Scarborough trip. I ask her what she feels like this morning, being drunk last night, and she informs me that Peter Mather look he back to his place until nearly 5am. We laugh. Finish work by 11.30 and come straight home. Lunch with __ and laugh at the holiday photographs which the girls took in Spain. Poor Susan spent £5 having 40 of them developed.

See in the Airedale & Wharfedale Observer that Barbara Woodhead married last weekend. God Bless her. My favourite girlfriend is off the market, and I do suppose that type of female has now gone into complete extinction.

John and I go to the White Swan in Yeadon at 6.15, where Denny, Chris and Pete soon follow. Sit until almost 7 without seeing anyone we know. All the crowd are dressed in casual jeans and things and we feel rather stupid, Chris, Denny, John and Pete and I that is , being garbed in our Buckingham Palace garden party type outfits. On coach at 7.10 and leave for Scarbrough, which seems too far away to go just for an evening. On our arrival everyone goes to the pub except Denny and I who go find a fish and chip shop in the backstreets.At 10.20, having had nothing to drink at all, we go to the Penthouse Disco, which is the roughest place I've ever been to and even Denny says she will never criticise Wikis again. However, they play some fantastic music and we manage to enjoy ourselves without consuming any vast quantity of ale or spirits at all (see next page). Denny and I go for a walk on the beach at about 1.30am and we are forced to return quite early due to the drizzle which soaks us thoroughly. The walk certainly brought Denny from her semi-coma, and we were quite cheerful when we arrived back a the Penthouse. The others joined us at 2am in a shop doorway here we sheltered from the rain. Phyllis Whitethighs (our new name for Christine W) was an absolute bore all evening and shouldn't have bothered coming in that kind of mood. Coach at 2.30am - home by 5am. Terrible cramp in my stomach and no sleep until 7am.

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Thursday August 8, 1974

Not very good at the YP. Hear from Mrs Beaumont that she is leaving on September 20. What a change that will be!

Feel sick all day after last night's boozy celebrations at Dave Baker's. Glad that he and Carol (Smith) are back together. Anne and Carol Shires, the girls from way out west, go back to New York today. John didn't even get their address - talk about cool!

Speculation all day abut Richard Nixon, the US president, who won't be with us, or perhaps I should say the Yanks, much longer.

Denny rings at 7 and is slightly peeved when I say I don't really want to go out tonight. You can't really blame me. Being an alcoholic at 19 is a bit much.

Sit now watching the tv waiting for news of the fate of President Nixon. Susan, Peter and myself are like vultures crouched around the telly.

Hear on News at 10 that Nixon is to broadcast to the American people at 2am (our time) and I decide to sit up in an armchair and hear what he has to say. Sit until 1.30 and then fall asleep until 2.35 - so that poor Nixon was talking to himself. Missed him altogether. Had Dad not come in for supper at 2 I would have slept in the chair all night. From the tv I gather that Nixon is to resign his office tomorrow.

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Tuesday August 6, 1974

Hot day - which makes a change. This summer will go down in history as 'the summer that never was'. Hear from Lynn tonight that she is the proud possessor of five 'O' levels. That is one more than me. Feel really happy for her.

Denise rings me at work and asks if I'd like to go to Scamps, the disco at Bradford, tonight. I plead insanity and say I have no money, which is perfectly true. She doesn't really object and we promise to meet on Friday at lunchtime again.

Nice day at the YP but too warm for comfort. Home at 5.45. Ring Marita after tea who says she's completed her decorating now and for the duration of the conversation I had the feeling that she was concentrating seriously on something else. I ask: "Have you seen Michael today?" She answers: "Yes. He's here now." I make a speedy exit from the line. The poor sods are in love_________.I keep getting different reports from private sources about __ but knowing ___ like I do_________.

No real news to report this week other than the fact that horrid President Nixon finally admitted that he knew about 'Watergate' all along. Disgusting American politics is not a subject I wish to dwell on.

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Tuesday May 7, 1974

Leap out of bed at 8.30 in time to hear the news. Chancellor Brandt of West Germany resigned last night after the recent incident with spies in his entourage. All day at the YP speculation grows as to whether Edward Short will resign the deputy leadership of the Labour party, and oppisition to him is growing in the Commons. President Nixon is also quaking in his boots about possible impeachment and no politician, it seems, is safe from vile insinuations ravaging the media. A purge is necessary to rid the Commons of these infernal corrupted MPs.

NB: Get lost, Michael. You are always writing bloody stupid things in your diary.

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Thursday November 1, 1973

IMPEACHMENT (x)

Starring:-

President Richard Nixon..................himself

Spiro T. Agnew..................................Dame Edith Evans, DCVO

Mrs Nixon..........................................Marlene Dietrich

Patricia Nixon's pet spaniel Spot....Lassie

Whore in Presidential bed...............Diana Dors

Patricia Nixon...................................Elizabeth 'Lassie Come Home' Taylor

President Nixon's mother...............Wilfred Hyde-White

Song: 'Tape me Home again, Kathleen'

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