Monday March 9, 1981

 _. Up at 6:45. Ally took Dave G and I to Kirkstall from where we walked into town and I said farewell to the lad as we reached the YP. He disappeared into the grime of Wellington Street carrying his large, blue bag. It was an easy day because I completed most of my mundane tasks working on Saturday. 

Home at 6. Ally came to dinner again and afterwards sat knitting with Mum. The clicking of knitting needles was almost deafening. Lady Diana was on the 9 o'clock news, attending her first official function. She accompanied the Prince of Wales to a charity performance at Covent Garden clad in a black chiffon dress which brought the glamour of the 1950s back to the Royal Family. Obviously, Lady Diana will be criticised. Should a future Queen display her bossoms? But we who know differently, and have access to thousands of historic photos, know that Her Majesty wore an almost identical and revealing dress when she was in her 20s. We haven't had a teenage bride at the forefront of the Royal family since Alexandra of Denmark in 1863. I find Lady Diana's awkward shyness, and sudden blushes quite enchanting. 

Ally brought four books we've bought from a book club, including the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, which I buried myself in for the remainder of the evening.

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Sunday March 8, 1981

 _. 1st Sunday in Lent

Auntie Mabel is 62 today, and Dave B is 25. We slept late, until about 11. I took a cup of coffee up to Dave G in the 'Brown Suite' , and found him in a state of undress and looking extremely nervous. The wardrobe and collapsed in the middle of the night, and onto his bed, and for some time he was entombed in a pine sarcophagus. He thought someone with a grudge had put a brick through the window. 

We ate scrambled eggs on toast and then lounged around doing absolutely nothing until after 3 when we went to Guiseley to see Sue and Pete. He was sitting in an armchair saying little, and looking more angry than ill. He was wading through a pile of his old school exercise books which I thought looked very odd. Dad appeared and at 5 we took him on to Pine Tops for dinner. No 'outsider' fits into our family like Dave G does. It's as if he's been here all along. 

Yet another TV session. Watched Cheryl Campbell and a brilliant Sir John Gielgud in Agatha Christie's 'The Seven Dials Mystery'. David pointed out that Agatha must have been sober when she penned that tome. Then we watched Joe Orton's 'Loot' starring Sir Richard Attenborough and Hywel Bennett. I laughed until I cried. 

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Saturday March 7, 1981

 _. Rain and damnation. Up at 6:45 for boiled eggs and toast. Ally joined me for coffee looking delightful with shaggy hair, and wearing one of my striped shirts. I got a bus into town and then on to Leeds and the YP. Drab and dreary, yet industrious until 1:45. Ally and Dave collected me. [They'd spent the morning preparing dinner. Dave had been given the job shredding mushrooms]. We went to the Ling Bob pub at Wilsden, via an antique shop in Armley, and then on to Haworth. David had never been to the latter. As usual it rained. We bought cream cakes and ate them in the street. Back to Club St for 5pm. 

Lynn and Dave came at 8:30. A tearful Sue phoned to say Pete is violently ill after a vodka session last night and they cannot join us. We had beef goulash with rice, then cheese and biscuits, &c. Lynn ate like a horse and is looking big and fit. Afterwards she sprawled out on the sofa, and to quote her ~ 'like a walrus with a thyroid problem'.  They stayed until after 12. I had far too much wine.

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Friday March 6, 1981

 _. New Moon

Lynn is twenty three today. I phoned her at 11:30. David bought her a Kenny Rogers LP for some reason, and is taking her to the cinema tonight to see 'Airplane'. Such bad taste.

At 5 I met Dave G at the railway station and we got a train through to Bradford and met Ally at 5:45. We took Dave to Club St for dinner. Lasagne washed down with white wine [bought by Dave]. I thought Dave might want to go out for a drink but he was content to sit by the fire watching our snowy TV. After dinner we listened to the 'Emotional Rescue' LP by the [Rolling] Stones, then watched Huw Wheldon's 'Royal Heritage', including a rare 'interview' with the Queen Mother. Before bed we watched Robert Donat's 'The 39 Steps' - hilarious in parts - especially the very end where the dying memory man asks: 'Was I right, Sir?' At that point the telly went on the blink, losing sound and picture, and so we shall never know.

David was given the newly decorated 'Brown Suite'. He stood aghast looking at the flying pigs. We have named them Charles, Diana and George. [George is the baby].

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Thursday March 5,1981

 _. Ally, bless her, eats banana on toast. She's besotted with this peculiar delicacy. I cannot enthuse or share her taste.

To Club St at 6 for dinner with Ally,who was feeling gloomy. We had a casserole with kidney and dumplings, quite excellent, and reclined afterwards. A life of domesticity. It must be a relief to the neighbours. For two years they've seen and heard us bombing around in the dead of night in varying states of alcoholism. It must be a shock for them now we behave like lieutenants in the Salvation Army. We have yet to tell Mrs Greenwood of our coming nuptials.

At 11:30 we went to bed to escape Sir Robin Day. 

Wednesday March 4, 1981

 _. Ash Wednesday

Almost Spring-like. My cousin Jill and Tim have found a house on Valley Road, Pudsey, and so now might be marrying this summer too. All the best people are. 

The Prince of Wales and Lady Diana were at Covent Garden last night, her first experience in the royal box. She is to carry out her first official public duty on Monday, with the prince, at a charity performance somewhere. I spent the afternoon in the archives looking at the Annual Register for 1863, and all the material relating to the marriage of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales and Alexandra of Denmark. The last occasion when a Prince of Wales married as such. They wed on March 10 that year. The bride wore a diamond bracelet, a gift from the ladies of Leeds, and the bridegroom was attended throughout the marriage ceremony by his 'groom of the stole' Earl Spencer, the elder half-brother of Diana's great-grandfather. I wonder whether Lady Diana will appoint a similar retinue to her household as Alexandra, who, in 1863, appointed Lord Harris as her [Lord] Chamberlain, the Marchioness of Carmarthen, the Countess of Macclesfield and the Countess of Morton as her ladies of the bedchamber? I'm guessing that Diana's weekend visit to Eaton Hall was to fix Natalia Westminster with a job. Another possible candidate is the Duchess of Abercorn, Natalia's sister, and both are distantly related to Charles. I'm gathering all this for an article for the YP.

Home at 6. Mum and Dad visited the Stonehouse Inn again today. The old man [George Deakin/Deacon] is in no hurry to quit. They remain hopeful. Mum and Dad went over to see Hilda and Tony at 7:30. I phoned Ally twice. The first time I was cold and snappy, and so I phoned back to apologise. I also phoned Jack Simon and booked him to do our wedding photos. Watched TV until midnight. Part 1 of a dramatisation of the life of David Lloyd George. Seems promising.

Nothing in the news other than Ronald Reagan singing the praises of Mrs Thatcher.

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Tuesday March 3, 1981

 _. My day off caused no misery or heartache at the YP. Eileen Burnip was very keen to relate various tales of my escapades on Sunday afternoon. I winced hideously. 

Kathleen's papa died on Sunday night, but she will not resume her duties until the end of the month. She put in a very brief appearance this morning. 

Royal news: the wedding of the Prince of Wales and Lady Diana is to take place at St Paul's Cathedral on July 29. The last royal wedding at St Paul's [the old pre 1666 St Paul's] was Arthur, Prince of Wales, elder son of King Henry VII, who married Katherine of Aragon there. It's a bigger venue and can hold 2,000 more guests than Westminster Abbey. I think that the prince prefers St Paul's. He spoke from the pulpit here at Lord Mountbatten's funeral in Sept '79, and of course last year it was where the service for the Queen Mother's 80th birthday was held. The prince and Lady Diana spent the weekend at Cholmondeley Castle, home of the Lord Great Chamberlain, and they also visited Eaton Hall, home of the Duke of Westminster and his 21 year-old Duchess. Will she be Diana's Mistress of the Robes? One of the Sunday papers reported that Diana is a seventh cousin once removed of Humphrey Bogart and the same re Rudolph Valentino. This line can be traced via her great-grandmother, Lady Fermoy, formerly Frances Work, of New York. 

Ally came at 6 for pancakes. I have sorted out most of my books destined for Club St, and she drove off at 9:45 like a mobile library. To bed at 10. Mum and Dad have another appointment at the Stonehouse Inn tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

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