20101115

Saturday April 3, 1976


In brief: My Birthday Party at Oakwood Hall.

Carole and I go to Leeds before lunch and spend about three or four hours messing around in the shops. I bought a blue cheesecloth shirt with the money Mum and Dad gave me this morning. We have our usual squabble in Miss Selfridge and Carole ends up the owner of a Spanish-style green blouse - which she loathes. Women!

Home at 4 to find Dad mending the telephone and see Jackie, who arrived three hours earlier.

Later: Coach arrives at 9.20 and 19 people travel. MM and Marita in the car. Even Denise and Tony came. The place was horribly hot all night and packed to the brim. I attempt to get intoxicated and only got slightly pissed, spending £8 in the process. Lynn and David didn't come, which left something of a gap but otherwise all was a great success. Christine B, Chris and Peter bought me a 'Southern Comfort' pub mirror - brilliant. Back to Pine Tops - that is only family and Dave L for Jackie's sausage sandwiches and a photographic session. Hysterical just isn't the word.

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Friday April 2, 1976


I am sick of this Phillips business and feel useless and small over the 'inactiveness' I have shown. Any true boyfriend in days gone by would have challenged the blackguard in question to a duel and dawn or something, but I've done absolutely nothing to defend poor Carole who is horribly bruised and in a state of great depression.

David rings and he picks me up at 8pm and off to the Hare & Hounds we go. Ian Appleyard and Kevin (Taylor) are in but keep themselves to themselves. I do not enjoy the evening because of the state Carole is in and am aware that everybody is looking at her disfigurements.

All the mob are in. We stay until closing time. John and Maria came in at 10 in a 13 year-old Volkswagen which he acquired today and at 11 he takes Carole and I back to Dunedin for a coffee. Mr & Mrs Mac are in Peterborough for the weekend, and when I suggest that we - the four of us - should endulge in an orgy - all I received was three disgruntled stares.

Carole and I came back to Pine Tops where we had gallons of tomato soup and toast, taking the time up to about 3.30am.

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20101113

Thursday April 1, 1976


April Fool's Day but hardly a foolish one. Indeed, it was a sombre and worrying day. Carole rings me this evening to say she's had a bust-up with her parents over the cost of my birthday presents. She tells me that Peter P hit her across the face as they quarrelled. I meet her off the 8.20 bus and she staggers up to our place and has a good weep in the dining room. I'm stunned by the bruises and blemishes on her face. Her right eye is completely black and her right ear bruised. She can, of course, take out a summons against the offender, but that would almost certainly mean her vacating her room at 14, Oakridge Avenue, and her financial situation prevents her from achieving this at the moment. She is greatly upset and stunned. I ask her to stay the night here. We sit up chatting until 1 o'clock.

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Wednesday March 31, 1976

I feel a bit grotty today. Blocked head and a ticklish feeling in the depths of my throat. Can it be the dreaded influenza? If you discover the remaining pages of this diary are blank you can take it from me that the ailment was more than 'flu. Last day of March. Come home from the office and find Dad in bed with a streaming cold. He isn't often ill and only takes to his bed as a last resort. Carole rings at 8.30 and Christine W rings to say she's coming to Oakwood Hall on Saturday for definate. -==-

Tuesday March 30, 1976


Home at 4.30 and call in next door to see Douglas about the trip on Saturday. He says that he and Susan will definately come, and so that should put Jackie in with a chance. She's quite taken a fancy to Douglas, and he doesn't seem to have a girlfriend, so who knows what might occur? Ring Marita. She doesn't know whether she can make it or not, and the same applies to Christine White. Jackie rings me at 10.30 and I tell her about Douglas. She's quite excited really.

Carole came up at 8.45 and stayed for about an hour. I am concerned about her eyes. She can barely see to the end of her nose, and although I joke about it, I do think she should consult an optician. David took her home in the spitfire at about 10 and the car refused to start for about ten minutes and Pete, Dave and I had to push it up and down the drive with Carole at the wheel. A cold night.

Callaghan won the second ballot for the premiership when the result was announced at 5.30pm. Foot was in second place and Healey was eliminated. The result of the final vote will be announced on my birthday and it will also be the 21st anniversary of the resignation of Churchill and the succession to the premiership of Eden, who is still battling away on a remote Sussex cattle farm, I think. Callaghan is the obvious choice really but he's a spineless middle-of-the-road type, and with a wife who answers to Audrey how can you blame him?

Monday March 29, 1976




Nothing in the news other than the boring details of the sleeping habits of James Callaghan. I'm sure the British public takes great delight in reading about what Mr Callaghan eats for breakfast, how much sugar he puts in his tea, and how long Audrey (his wife) has been on the pill. But seriously, the PM electioneering business is getting on my nerves.

Isn't the 'Race for Downing Street' drama getting exciting? Michael Foot, Denis Healey, Norman St John Stevas, Lord Lucan, Enoch Powell and the Everley Brothers are all 'tipped for the top' and by next Monday it will be all be over and done with. The bloody sooner the better, that's what I say.

A piece in the Daily Mail is fun. Roddy Llewellyn attended a party the other night clad in a t-shirt with the slogan 'Roddy for PM' - and it isn't refering to the Prime Minister either!

Dash home to see the first in a smashing new TV series called 'Coronation Street'. I'm sure it will be a great success and run for years. Some of the characters are thrilling. Alfred Hitchcock thoroughly deserves a pat on the back this time.

See on the 9 o'clock news that the government is having talks with France about scrapping Concorde. This white elephant has been on the go for too long now - about a month I think.

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Sunday March 28, 1976


4th in Lent. Mothering Sunday. Mrs Hilda Gadsby's 40th birthday.

I didn't climb out of bed until 12 o'clock. Mum and Dad went out for a tete a tete in some distant bar.

A beautiful tea attended by John, Maria, Marlene, Frank, Auntie Mabel, Mark, Debbie, Lynn, Dave, Sue, Peter, Carole, Mum, Dad and me. Auntie Mabel's clan arrived at 2.30-3 o'clock and Lynn and I entertained them over our photograph albums until Mum & Dad returned home. Tea was then prepared by Lynn - a buffet-type tea which was fantastic. John looked well - fatter. Is Maria having twins?

Jack Simon came up with the proofs of the wedding photos. They really are brilliant. I order seven for my album. Auntie Mabel is reduced to tears at the sight of a picture of her and Uncle Jack arriving at the church. She had a good weep.

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Saturday September 14, 1985

 Moorhouse Inn New Moon It was an early rise because of our darling son and heir, who had no qualms about getting his drunken Papa out of be...