Saturday August 25, 1984

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds

We escaped to Guiseley and visited the Lawsons of Tennyson Street. As usual we arrived at meal time, and Joan, opening the door, I think took me for a Jehovah's Witness or 'Moonie'. Eventually the penny dropped and we were ushered into the sitting room for tea and cake. Dave was out but came in half an hour later with a ponytail and a tiny shirt with 'The Smiths' splattered over the front. He autographed our passport photos. He is enabled to do this because he is a teacher. Other suitables for this tedious duty include members of the Royal Family, judges of the High Court, and peers of the realm above the rank of a baron. David hadn't seen Samuel before. We did a lot of tittering and then went on to Sue's. John gave Samuel £5. Barbecue at Susan's, with Mum and Dad too. Afterwards we went to Lynn's for tea and we sat on the lawn beneath the umbrella I stole in Bournemouth. Lynn showed no signs of delivering. Home for 7.

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Friday August 24, 1984

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds

Busy day because we have only one staff member working at luncheon. It was Maureen today. Other than this - oblivion. The Egans were red faced after last night. Quite right.

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Thursday August 23, 1984

 Moorhouse Inn

Ally phoned Lynn. The girl is sick of waiting and is visiting the doctor tomorrow. David is in a state of agitation and wants a son. Audrey and Terry were in pissed up after an afternoon at the Pirie's. Audrey was wearing a big hat and staggering around 'like Gertrude Tanner' - but I think meant Schilling. 

Saw Maureen's granddaughter, Teresa, outside. Born in December she looks massive next to Samuel and seems to have a full set of teeth. 

Stan Ogden is deceased ending a TV partnership and a romance equal only to Burton and Taylor, Victoria and Albert, and Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson.

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Wednesday August 22, 1984

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds

Marlene, Frank, Mark, Deborah and Auntie Mabel came to lunch and sat outside beneath an umbrella devouring ploughman's lunches and Black Forest gateau. It seems mercenary taking money from them but if not I'll never make a millionaire. Does Robert Maxwell's cousin have to pay for his 'Daily Mirror'? 

We are told that Elizabeth Taylor wants to die in Wales to be near Richard Burton's ghost. Won't the ghost be floating around in Switzerland? I am confused.

Samuel blows raspberries and entertained his kinfolk, so much so that I detected blue faces and wet eyes. Like Fred Karno's circus. Auntie Mabel dotes on him.

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Tuesday August 21, 1984

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds

Lord Fermoy.

Happy birthday to Princess Margaret and her reprobate cousin Gerald Lascelles. No Baker delivery. Margaret Rose Baker would have been so apt and sweet too. I stood in the bar tittering at Jim and George's Daily Star (I presume it's a shared copy). It describes Lord 'Eddie' Fermoy as 'Princess Diana's favourite uncle'. He's her only chuffing uncle. Well, only blood uncle. Her aunts Lady Anne Spencer and the Hon Mary Roche have husbands but they don't count. The Roche aunt is something of a nymphomaniac going by the list of husbands in Debrett's Peerage.

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Monday August 20, 1984

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds

Yes, Lord Fermoy uncle of the Divine Diana blew his brains out yesterday at his Berkshire home. He has suffered from depression for years, they say. His mother, Ruth Lady Fermoy, is currently with the Queen Mother at the Castle of Mey. Royal bank holidays seems to be always peppered with sadness.

Lynn was due today (baby no.3) but nothing happened. We had hoped it would happen yesterday when we were sitting in the garden,. Lynn's other babies were both born on a Monday.

Am I perhaps swinging towards the left? Have you spotted SDP tendencies in my entries? I say this because I have begun to find the Sunday Telegraph a trifle boring and dismal. Of course I never get chance to read the Sunday papers until days afterwards. Does this account for my lethargy? I am 29.

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Sunday August 19, 1984

 9th Sunday after Trinity

To Waltergarth, Horton-in-Ribblesdale

To Horton in time for breakfast at 9am which we ate with the Harwoods. Mum and Dad acting as servants. Samuel looking superior in his high chair. We retired to the garden afterwards and spent the day horizontally sinking wine. John, Janette, JPH, and Catherine came at 11. Both children well behaved and sweet. Debbie is a nice girl with an infectious giggle. Gave Mum a cup and saucer (picturing Trinity Church, Hull - £1.50 from Cheap 'n Cheerful). Stayed until after 10. An idle day. Ten litres of wine consumed. Barbecue, &c. Scottish dancing and various outdoor activities. 

News at 10: Lord Fermoy has committed suicide. Home dead at 11:30.

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Saturday August 18, 1984

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds

Hot. Shopping in town for watch straps. Ally complained about the strap costing more than the watch. Looked in at the new Austicks and at the Ann Morrow biography of the Queen Mother. To the railway station where we sat in a booth and had our passport photos taken. I look idiotic, and not unlike Adolf Hitler. Ally's photo makes her look much older than she is. Back at home over coffee Ally suggested spending the day at Horton tomorrow. What a good idea. Phoned Mum who was pleased. Marlene and Frank are staying with them, but our arrival will add to the party spirit. John is also going to do some double-glazing. Rhodes and Ettenfield is almost over. John spends more time now with George Waite.

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Friday August 17, 1984

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds

We went out to forms for new passports.

The King of Spain has been over here in a private capacity shooting with Lord Strathmore at his Teesdale estate. Lord Strathmore is of course a cousin of HM. Watch this space. Are they perhaps contemplating  making a willowy Bowes Lyon lady Queen of Spain? They do make good queens.

Recent arrival: a son to the Countess of Erroll.

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Thursday August 16, 1984

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds

Hot. Mum phoned to say Benjamin's heart is on the blink. A murmur, or something. The lad is under observation. Poor Sue. I phoned her - she wasn't too worried. They are now looking at a house on Thorpe Lane but it's too expensive. Ally phoned Lynn for a bulletin. She has been having the occasional 'twinges' and restless nights, but no nearer delivering. I would like a Baker nephew. It would be too dreadful for David to spend the rest of his life surrounded by women. To Linfood and then Club Street. We have another leak. A communication says we finish paying for the house in November, 1989. Phoned Lanzarote and got no joy. They were out. It's Sheila's birthday today and I guess they are at the Vic having peppered steaks. I am looking forward to a holiday in the sun. Ally was made to be brown. 

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Wednesday August 15, 1984

 Moorhouse Inn, Leeds

Ally stayed upstairs cooking. Our food supplies were extinguished after the locusts here this afternoon. (We took £31!) The aroma of curry drifted down on the night air. Just Audrey and I worked 8-11.

HRH The Princess Anne is 34 today. What a little grafter she is. A much maligned princess who, at last, is getting a fair deal from the press - except for the divorce rumours which are ridiculous, &c. I do wish HM would give the princess a peerage and thereby elevate the children from the gutter. Master Peter goes to a Dorset prep-schoool next term. The children are with grandmama at Balmoral with Princess Margaret and a solitary Prince Andrew. What became of Carolyn Herbert? Koo Stark marries the Green Shield Stamps heir this week (sigh of relief). Poor Andrew must be lonely.

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