Tuesday February 6, 1979

_. I have started to collect the coins bearing the inage of George VI that I find in my change because it is said that the Royal Mint is going to begin withdrawing them from circulation. Uncle Albert collected many pre-decimal coins in the 60s. It is hard to believe that in 1971 you could still get coins with Queen Victoria's regal bearing upon them in your loose change. Incidentally, King George VI died 27 years ago today.

Auntie Hilda, Uncle Tony and my cousin Diane came over at 8pm and stayed until after 2am. It was almost as if they had never been away and we all got on well together. Hilda has asked Mum to make Karen's wedding cake. Karen is marrying Steve at Pudsey on August 4. Diane is 15 and no longer the toothless brat. They haven't been here since 1976.

Uncle Tony is as silly as he ever was. He is standing as the Liberal candidate for Pudsey in the local elections in May, but I don't think he stands a chance of getting in. How can the Liberals be expected to get anywhere when the likes of the Rt Hon Jeremy Thorpe are allowed to roam, quite freely, around the countryside worrying sheep and old ladies? No, Tony, no.

We ate supper and drank ale and wine and talked of the days in Cornwall and Pudsey. Grandma Gadsby is in the asylum & so they can come here after visiting her. Mum invited them to her Thursday night orgy. Bed at 3am.

-=-

Monday February 5, 1979

_. I think a thaw is underway. Struggled out to the YP with no enthusiasm at all. Discussed the party with Sarah and Carol J but neither went into great detail about what happened after my departure. Tony took Carol to the cinema at Shipley last night & Jacq was accompanied by Chris Ratcliffe! ______________.

Home at 5. Mum says she phoned Auntie Hilda [her sister] last night and that she and Uncle Tony are coming over here tomorrow night. Evidently, Tony's mother is an inmate of the asylum [Highroyds] and they are calling after visiting her there.

Not a word from Lynn and Dave. _______________________-.

Watched Monty Python's Flying Circus and took to my bed at 11:55pm. Reading 'Majesty' by Robert Lacey.

-=-

Sunday February 4, 1979

_. Up at 11:30 for breakfast. We discuss Lynn _______________________. Peter N came here at 3:30. I watched a programme on the BBC about the Bronte Sisters which was dull and morbid. Also watched a play 'The Voysey Inheritance' at 8. Bed at 1am. Feeling tired and dreary. A full day of TV cannot do us any good.

-=-

Saturday February 3, 1979

_. Peter predicted last night that dear Mama would 'play Hell' with me this morning because of Susan's condition. He was very accurate in this assessment. Susan, very pale and feeble looking, was pampered and spoiled this morning. I cannot help thinking that some grave miscarriage of justice has taken place. According to my mother I am a "lazy, good for nothing wretch". This outburst came about because I said I didn't want to go with Dad to the supermarket to do the weekly shop. How many men my age willingly go out buying tins of beans on a Saturday afternoon?

At 12 John came in with JPH. It was a surprise. We haven't heard from him since the New Year. Maria came round later, looking quite massive but happy and well. Sadly, John had cut his own hair and he strongly resembled a Russian dissident.

At 5:30 Marlene, Frank, Auntie Mabel, Mark & Deborah arrived. Later joined by Margaret & Jim, Chippy and Debbie, and Lynn and David. A late arrival was David Greenwood. Lynn immediately took him into the dining room and they sat listening to a LP of 'The Desert Song'. John Hanson and all that. _____________________________.

At 11pm Chippy, Sue, Pete and I took off to the party at Kirkstall of Jacq's friend, Linda, where Sue & Pete left Chippy and I after only ten minutes. Sarah came over and gave me a big kiss and Carol J informed me that Tony and Chris R were present. Chippy and I had a bottle of cherry wine and we swigged it from the bottle neck like Irish navvies. I gave Jacq a £1 for more booze. ______________. After an hour C and I decided to leave. We were back at Pine Tops at some late hour and Mother's party was still going strong. David Greenwood was still sat there. Lynn was very drunk.

-=-

Friday February 2, 1979

_. Brilliant sunshine, but thick snow. The place resembles Gstaad or Klosters, or wherever it is where the toffs go for the winter sports. I kept expecting to see the likes of the Shah of Iran and Angie Dickinson to come skiing down the lane.

Left work at 12 and at one Chippy came up and we went down to the asylum to meet 'Flu', one of his workmates. On the way out of the asylum grounds we encountered a female inmate with slashed wrists, clutching a large shard of broken glass. Her blood was so thick it resembled raspberry jam. People can be so squeamish about blood, can't they? On we went to the Junction at Otley for the duration of the afternoon. Saw lots of old pissed friends and had about five pints. Chippy was reeling and swaying by 4 o'clock. Otley men are positively Neolothic, aren't they? Long hair. Long beards. Big hairy arms and loud, inaudible voices. You wouldn't think that Guiseley was just around the corner.

At 5 I was at home for bacon sandwiches with Mummy & Daddy. Susan was looking very sophisticated in a new skirt and blouse.

Tonight: Out to the Shoulder with Sue, Pete, Chippy, Debbie, Flu and his girlfriend. A pleasant evening around a crowded, wet table. Chippy insisted on playing a ridiculous game and as usual I made a balls of it. Debbie is a very attractive thing, only 17, and I cannot help thinking that she might actually prefer me to Mr Ash. Haha. Tony and Chris R were also in.

Home at 11. Susan was very drunk. Brandy, I fear. she had fallen over in the snow.  She was horribly sick until about 2am. Peter and I sat with her upstairs. The scene resembled the Vigil of the Princes from the lying in State of King George V in January, 1936.

-=-

Thursday February 1, 1979

_. Pay day, but most it isn't mine. K_____ is a frustrated old cow. She was dressed entirely in pink today and resembled a neurotic piglet.

Carol J and I went over to the Central at 5:30 [early doors] to the 'Welcome back to the YP all you sciving Lefty NUJ Reds' party. I had seen Jacq at lunchtime and she also put in an appearance tonight with a work mate from Dacre, Son and Hartley.

Carol and I were in high spirits and attacked the buffet upstairs - fooling around with the cheese sandwiches in dry bread rolls.

The usual journalistic mob was out in force. The highlight was Bob Cockroft's piano playing excellence. His repertoire included such rousing tunes as 'Jerusalem' and 'Abide with Me' . He was doing requests and I asked for Your Tiny Hand is Frozen [Che Gelida Manina] from La Boheme, but he said he couldn't play in German. I am still trying to work that one out.

At 8 I left this merry throng to join Pete N and Chippy at Highroyds. My bus journey was blurred by alcohol, and so was the remainder of the evening. From the asylum we went to the Shoulder where we met three buck-toothed neo-fascist females, who joined us at Oakwood Hall. Quite a laugh, but by midnight I was struck down by a hangover.  Sad. Home at 2:15am in a snowdrift, but Chippy's car glided through it like a knife through hot butter.

-=-

Wednesday January 31, 1979

I just don't know what to sling down on this page today. It was such a mundane, ordinary day that the very thought of filling an entire page is horrific.

Sat and watched the hot, over-worked TV until smoke bellowed forth from the appliance. Saw part III of 'Rebecca', but David G phoned in the middle of this & frightened me with news of a financial nature. "We've booked the Bournemouth trip" he casually said, "and can you bring me the £10 when you come over next week?" Oh God. Destitution once again.

I may have to abandon my Stockport trip planned for February 9 and just post the money to David instead. Blimey, I'm not John Paul Getty III.

To bed at 11:30 with a mug of Ovaltine. Just like a bloody old lady.

-=-

Tuesday January 30, 1979

_. Slightly more mild. No more ruddy snow. Up at 7:30. Read Mum's Daily Mail and had a black coffee. The Duke of Gloucester says that members of the Royal Family have to be professional ignoramuses, and reckons that the round of royal duties do not allow them, the royals, to speak their minds. The British constitution prevents royals from showing any signs of brightness or initiative. A prince cannot dabble in or discuss public affairs. The Royal Family, is compelled by tradition to appear dull, ignorant and insensitive & I'm not surprised that some members of the family are crying out to be granted the right to speak out. It may be undemocratic but I do feel that Prince Philip and several other royals are perhaps capable of bringing this country from the abyss of Hell. We have to be saved from James Callaghan.

It looks as though the Times newspaper is in its death throes. Thomson Newspapers will undoubtedly sell out and this great English institution will go forever. No Daily Telegraph was published today, which is miserable. The fabric of the country is gradually disintegrating , don't you think?

Home at 5:30. T-bone steak for dinner with Mama, Papa and Susan. David calls in with a ton of empty lager bottles from Burley-in-W. He went off at 6:30 to play Badminton with 'the lads' at Yeadon.

Saw David Attenborough on the BBC. Life On Earth. If the whole of time was scaled down into one year, then man wouldn't put in an appearance until very late on New Year's Eve. Not even a blade of grass or the smallest living organism appeared until early November, and so you can imagine what a quiet Easter Bank Holiday it was.

-=-

Monday January 29, 1979

Reading the Daily Mail. The Prince of Wales has injured himself skiing in Switzerland. They thought HRH had broken his hip, but in fact he is only bruised.

Deep snow. To Leeds with Jim [Rawnsley] and Jennie. A two hour journey through snow and ice. Jennie, such an inquisitive child, kept firing questions at me. "What is a coup d'état?" "What is a 'fresco'"?  &c. _____________.

The YP was hideous. Sarah and Carol J sat all day talking about their exploits at the Regent at Chapel Allerton. I was bored by it all.

Read in the papers that Nelson Rockefeller, former vice-president of the USA, died on Saturday.

TV tonight: Monty Python's Flying Circus followed by a Nanette Newman drama - a love story in wheel chairs. Seen it before. On the news they were banging on about direct elections to the European Parliament. We are all voting on June 7 for something I know nothing about. Geoffrey Rippon, MP, made an appearance, and it was like seeing a ghost. I thought they'd executed him at the Nuremberg Trials along with Edward Heath, Mussolini and nurse Edith Cavell.  Obviously I am mistaken. Bed at 12:35am.

-=-

Sunday January 28, 1979

4th Sunday after Epiphany.

Awoke with no apparent loss of limb and most of my faculties intact. Mum asks whether I was sick in the night and I fully expected the Spanish Inquisition, but she was fine about it. I even threw up in the kitchen.

I feel diabolical about Jim & Margaret. What must I have been like in car coming home from Menston? It is quite out of character for me to suffer pangs of guilt and embarrassment but I am doing so. "I told you it would be a good do" exclaimed a laughing Peter N.

Heavy snow all day. Phoned the Odeon Cinema and then Dave L and he said he'd come over at 6:50. Dined with Mum, Dad, Sue and Pete and watched the snow heaping up in the garden.

Dave arrived saying the roads are treacherous, but we went out all the same. Dave's is the only car on the road. We laughed and compared ourselves to the likes of Ernest Shackleton and Mr Cabot. The car skid all over the road and we hit Leeds in a shroud of white. We were the first vehicle to access the metropolis since before Christmas.

The film was good. Peter Cook and Dudley Moore in 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' ~ a highly delightful comedy based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's book. We laughed our heads off. Outside at 9:30 we had a shock awaiting us. We made our way to the car and blamed the horrible scraping sound on the mounds of snow in the car park, but this was not so. People emerged from a neighbouring vehicle and a man, in fits of laughter, informed us we were trying to make our exit with only three wheels on the car! Some thieving swine had removed one of Dave's rear wheels. I laughed. David sat stunned with incredulity. A helpful guy in the vicinity helped to jack up the car and in half an hour had affixed a spare wheel, and tightened up the others. We came home in silence, occasionally questioning the sanity of the dogs who had vandalised his car. Home by 10:30.

Lynn and Dave had arrived with Dave's uncle Tony and they stayed with us until 1am. I was dog tired.

-=-

Saturday January 27, 1979

Brilliant sunny day, but another layer of snow fell in the night. Out of bed at 11am to clear the drive. Mum and Dad went out to the Dales, probably Grassington, and I was left alone with the record player and cups of coffee.

At 1pm, Sue, Pete, Chippy and I went to the Shoulder [of Mutton] for a few. Afterwards we went on a Wellington boot hunt to Shipley but had no joy. It would seem that panic buying is not restricted to butter, petrol and sanitary towels. Wellington boots are hard to come by in these days of misery and hardship. Came home for tea at 4:30 and I gave Chippy the negatives of the holiday photographs.

Tonight: out with Sue, Pete, Chippy and Debbie to the Shoulder. I felt like a spare part. Christine made an appearance with Doreen but they stood at the far end of the bar. I think I am out of favour for some reason. She said she would phone tomorrow. At 10 with Sue and Pete to collect Jim and Margaret & then on to the Menston Arms where Pete's cousin Pauline Sanderson is having her 21st birthday party. She is the fattest girl in Christendom, but quite sweet. Her parents Uncle Bob and Auntie Olive [Margaret's brother and sister~in~law] invited is back to the party afterwards, and nobody needs to ask me twice. I only wish I had said no. Don't get me wrong. The party was marvellous but I fear I made a bloody fool of myself. I became very drunk and proposed marriage to Pauline, but can't recall whether she accepted or not. I was attacked by a vicious canine specimen and every time the dog came near me I yelled abuse at it. Susan said I used the word 'piss' is every sentence. I was horribly sick on pernod and don't recall Jim [Nason] driving us home. I was also sick at home too.

-=-

Friday January 26, 1979

No hangover, for a change. My day at the YP was nauseating. The NUJ are all back to work.

Phoned Christine. She is working at the Fox tonight. She hasn't phoned me since before Christmas and says it is because her boss is bugging her appliance. I have been through this sort of thing with her before. For months I can receive a phone call every day, and then suddenly they dry up, and I have to make the effort. She knows I will always be around, on hand. My services only come to the fore at times of loneliness & misery. I don't mind this. We have an unwritten agreement.

David L came at 7:45 and we went to the Fox. Sat at the bar until 10 reminiscing. We always talk about days gone by. Things like the vodka party with Serena in Worcester, Oh, and the female usherette with the torch at Yeadon Cinema in the power strike of 1971. Christine amused us too.  She improves with age, does the creature. Her hair is the most exquisite masterpiece this side of the Louvre. How can a girl with so much beauty not believe in God?

At 10 Dave's stomach was crying out for food and so we went to the Commercial for jars of mussels in vinegar.He had 2 jars washed down with lemonade. Annie, the landlady, took one look at me and exclaimed: 'Oh look. Shirley Temple's had his curls cut off''. I don't think I've been down to the Commercial since Jacq and I made regular Sunday lunchtime trips.

I accidentally knocked David's glass off the table and gave Annie's cat a shower. Outside, the sky was so clear. David made an attempt to show me the Great Bear and the Plough but as usual I was over-awed by the great firmament.

-=-

Thursday January 25, 1979

Left the YP at 12:30 and met Jacq in a pub the name of which I have forgotten. It's the one behind the Yorkshire Crown in what looks like a cellar. We had a few drinks and I gave her £5.

Derek Sate has had a street named after him in Buckinghamshire ~ 'Sate's Way' & so he's now joined the ranks of the likes of Queen Victoria, the Duke of Marlborough & Clement Attlee. He's also now in possession of a Cadillac ~ with air conditioning ~ and the usual automatic toilet roll holder. He's just been up to see her for the weekend with Carol, who is having trouble with boils on her head.

Tonight: Chippy phoned at 6:30, Dave Lawson phoned at 7 o'clock, and Dave Glynn at 7:30. Popular aren't I? Dave L is home until Monday and we arranged to go out tomorrow night, Dave G just wanted a chat, and Chippy says he will collect me at 8. Plunged into a hot bath & then out to the Shoulder (of Mutton). We were joined by Dave Wainwright, whose car broke down outside. A pleasant night, though Oakwood Hall was empty of familiar faces & quite dull compared with last week. I made a concerted effort to curb my drinking consumption after midnight. Home at 1:30 joking with four girls in a car on the way back. We sat and chatted at the roadside for ten minutes or so.

-=-

Wednesday January 24, 1979

Auntie Mabel: had dinner on the boil ...

Went to Auntie Mabel's at 5 o'clock where she has dinner on the boil in readiness. I am utterly spoiled and mollycoddled by her. She tells me I am her first visitor for over a week, not counting Marlene, of course.

A night in front of the TV. 'Coronation Street', then 'The Aphrodite Inheritance' , and Daphne Du Maurier's 'Rebecca'.

I bet you didn't know that Daphne Du Maurier's daughter is Viscountess Montgomery of Alamein. She is, anyway.

To bed at 11:30pm. Auntie kindly offered to come into the bedroom to switch off the light once I was safely tucked up. I think she might have forgotten that I am almost 24. I told her I'd switch off myself, and we said goodnight.

Found a copy of 'Rebecca' on my bedroom bookcase and glanced at the first few chapters. It was first published in 1938.

-=-

Tuesday January 23, 1979

No snow today, but we all expect something. Sarah was a cow all day and went out of her way to be tiresome. Kathleen too, is quite insane. Eileen was the only civil person on board today.

Home with Marita this evening. She talked of how bored they were at New Year & I had to remind her that it is her 24th birthday next week. I enjoy doing this, because I know she hates growing older and to be reminded of such anniversaries. It's about time MM pulled his finger out and made a honest woman of her. I do suppose he's waiting until he's chairman of ICI before making the purchase of the ring.

The poor Shah of Iran is now in Morocco & that nauseating geriatric, the Ayatollah Khomeini is fuelling up in readiness for his departure to Teheran next week.. Yet another throne falls to the chant of revolution. The Shah and his Empress are good friends of our Royal Family.

Anna Massey as Mrs Danvers in Rebecca...

Mum phoned Auntie Mabel tonight & I said I will go over and see her tomorrow for tea and then watch Daphne Du Maurier's  'Rebecca'  ~ serialised on TV. She invited me to stay the night and suggests I can go to work on Thursday morning from Pudsey. Auntie hasn't been out of her garden gate for a week because of the snow. She must get very lonely living alone. Besides, I do enjoy her company. She will be 60 in March. Marlene is going to throw a party, and the arrangements are all very hush hush.

Peter came up here at 7:30 and we sat playing cards around the dining room table. Quite fanatics we are becoming. Television must have destroyed social & family life altogether.

I pack a few belongings for tomorrow and retired at 12:50am.

-=-

Monday January 22, 1979

The NUJ decided to come out of hibernation today for the first time since the beginning of December. The country is grinding to a halt. I can name the industries that are not on strike on the fingers of one hand. Mr Callaghan will have to go.

Callaghan: shitting himself at No. 10...

Read Richard Crossman's 1966-68 diaries and find his comments on the Queen interesting. Look them up for yourself if you are at all interested.

One of the Sunday papers did an article on Crossman's relationship with Callaghan, who was Home Secretary and then Chancellor (of the Exchequer) from 1964-70. Quite disturbing, and I bet that the PM is now shitting himself at No. 10. He (Callaghan) is not good in a crisis, is one of Crossman's statements.

John Edward Rhodes.

We have received a letter from John & Sheila in Lanzarote. We can go out there for £30 at three days notice which sounds good. By the sound of things they are the only English speakers on the island. John is doing a lazy, pleasurable job whilst Sheila runs around the volcano fifteen times a day driving holiday-makers from the airport to half-built hotels. She has always carried John through life. I know I have delusions of grandeur, but I think John Edward Rhodes is an even bigger dreamer.



Back from the YP at 5:30 to find Sue, Lynn and Alison with Mama. The girls had been at the Black Bull in Otley all afternoon (market town pubs open until 4pm) celebrating Monday. Lynn had consumed eight pernods. Mum said afterwards that she worries about Lynn drinking.

Watched the telly until 11:30 then to bed with a mug of Ovaltine and the Rt Hon Richard Crossman, Lord President of the Council.

-=-

Sunday January 21, 1979

Up at about 11. Had eggs and bacon and then went to the Menston Arms to meet Lynn, David  & Alison. We drank doubles (again) and had a pleasant lunchtime. I haven't had a Sunday afternoon session in ages. Alison and I bought each other our drinks. She was knocking back double port and lemon! The barman thought we were hideously insane.

No snow fell but the ground is still well covered & all forecasts call for further attacks.

Back home by 2pm. We had more drink, and at 5:30 a candlelit dinner. We discussed everything from education to sex, marriage, arm chairs, and children asking embarrassing questions. The candles burned away and the talk went on and on. Sue, Pete and David deserted the table for the tv .

At 10:20 watched the film "Women in Love" starring Glenda Jackson & Oliver Reed. Dad, Lynn and Alison talked until 1am. I think Dad was pissed up.




-=-

Saturday January 20, 1979

Up for breakfast at 10:30. Lynn is acutely embarrassed ~ quite unlike her really. We sat at Lawn Road watching the snow falling all day.

I wandered out at lunchtime to buy tins of soup. The white stuff came up to my knees. Tonight people are saying it is the worst wintry weather since 1963, or dare I say 1947?

Out to the Shoulder of Mutton and the White Cross with Sue, Pete, Lynn, Dave & Alison. I saw Carole in the Cross, and Alison bumped into Martyn in the Shoulder of M. Carole was a wonderful sight, and when she left she gave me a kiss. What fools we are. Martyn bought us a drink ~ it's his leaving 'do' because he starts a new job in Stockport on Monday.

At 11 we went to the restaurant at White Cross. Joined there by Chippy and his young, schoolgirl girlfriend, Debbie. Ate steak. It was over~cooked. Home at nearly 1am.

After my steak I jogged alone up Thorpe Lane knee deep in snow. Lynn, Dave and Ally came back for coffee but left shortly afterwards. They hadn't really enjoyed the evening. Lynn doesn't see eye to eye with Chippy. Nobody seems to like the poor lad.

Sue and Pete arrived after the others had left & they suggest building a snowman in the garden. This we did. But we got quite carried away and erected an eighteen foot monster, and a headless monster too. Susie got bored and left us at about 3am, and Pete and I called it a night when we could no longer reach the top of our creation, even with a pair of full-sized ladders.

-=-

Friday January 19, 1979

Snows like Hell all day. Getting to work was tedious.

Sarah phoned at 11 o'clock to say she doesn't want to go see 'Jaws 2' tonight because of the atrocious weather. (She's on half day). Besides, Delia will not move from her fireside when such weather prevails. I am cheered by this news because it will be nice to see Alison (Dixon) tonight.

At home by 6:30pm - deep snow. Alison's car only just made it up the lane. She's in the lounge eating sandwiches, looking thinner and pale. She is so sweet. ___________.

Alison Dixon: thinner, pale and sweet ...

Alison phoned Lynn and they had mild hysterics & at 7pm, armed with sleeping bags, hot water bottles and thermal underwear we, Alison and I in her car, with shovels, headed down to Burley in Wharfedale. We arrived to be bombarded with snowballs by David. He had that devilish glint in his eye.  We waited until almost 10pm for Susan and Peter who travelled down by bus.

Watched the final episode of "Edward and Mrs Simpson" - enjoyable. Lynn's attitude is one of stubbornness this evening.

Went over to the Red Lion at 10 o'clock and in the space of one feeble hour spent £20! The ladies drank brandy and Babycham & we boys had pints with whisky chasers. Disgusting really.

At 11:15 Lynn was singing "Winchester Cathedral" to the amiable, fat landlord. At 11:30 Lynn was out cold in the snow and David, Peter and I had to give her a 'chairlift' home. She was so very pissed up. At midnight she fell over the back of her settee, and later fell in the bathroom and smashed her head on the tiles. The remaining five of us drank and listened to music and played charades until after 3am. Peter N is very good at mime. Like Marcel Marceau, in fact. The funniest film titles he depicted were 'Bridge on the River Kwai' and Kelly's Heroes'.

At some ridiculous hour David began laying tiles on a worktop in the kitchen (yes, tiles are the in thing today). At about 4 we took to our sleeping bags. We were nice to Ally and gave her the spare bedroom.

-=-

Thursday January 18, 1979

Had a good evening out. It was one of those occasions when so many long lost acquaintances decided to all appear at Oakwood Hall at the same time.

Peter N, Chippy and I went to the Shoulder  where we were joined by Dave Wainwright, who came 'just for a quick one'. All a bit lost because of the loss of Gus and Frank. Chippy was friendly, and not the rude, immature brat he can be.

At Oakwood Hall I bumped into Patrice Saunders, and we chatted for ages about the former inmates of Fieldhead Rd school. He's the only guy I ever see these days from my Guiseley Secondary School days, and these encounters are rare.

CB: formation dance team...

Joined by Naomi, Jill, CB (!!) , Philip Birdgarden, &c. We organised quite a good formation dance team, but I spent too much on booze. All worth it though. Christine and I have been estranged since Christmas. We often have these 'cool' sessions where it all goes quiet. She has new friends now, including Doreen.



Home before 2am because Chippy was at the wheel of his new Renault, and when he says he's tired his word is like that of Louis XIV.

Bed after three because I was looking at my old coin collection.

-=-