Friday May 10, 1974

Wake up at 10.45 with the alarm clock ringing merrily.(Excuse the handwriting but I am sitting up in bed resting the volume on my knees - not a very satisfactory method at all). Doing nothing until Mother comes home for lunch, then she surprises me by saying she is having a driving lesson at 2 - which means this is the second one this week. She gets so nervous about drivming, so much so that she makes everyone else petrified too.

Go to the YP by train at 4.20. Arrive early as all the girls are just leaving. I have a very good night and finish all my routine work by 8.20! Judith Rushworth rings at 9 and we talk for 15 minutes about nothing in particular. I ring Mum but Sue tells me they're out and I joke with her and Lynn for a further quarter of an hour or so.

Read through the Duke of Windsor's file and am especially interested in the abdication period. The poor Duke of York hated the idea of kingship and from newspaper accounts it seems as though the king and his brother finished up deadly enemies. The refusal to give the duchess the style and title of 'HRH' stems from this rivalry. Anyway, I was very glad to see that Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon, now visiting Canada, found time to call on the old Duchess of Windsor, who is visiting New York. Margaret and Edward VIII have a lot in common.

My taxi came at 12 and I was in Wikis at a quarter past. Meet dear Denny at the top of the stairs and she is worried about John, who disappeared about ten minutes before my arrival. I go check the lavatory but he is nowhere to be seen. Have a good deal to drink and have fun with Denny. Judith, the Alfa Romeo girl, comes over and sits with me and I act with great civility considering the way I have been treated. She gives me a lift home and we cry with laughter to see John staggering up the lane at 2.30. Where had he been? I follow him in and discover he'd slept on a wall behind Wikis, after going outside to get some fresh air. A likely tale, but it must be true. Bed at 3am.

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Thursday May 9, 1974

Quite a nice day actually. Poor Judith R was rather downhearted this evening after undergoing a distressing scene at the bank. Anyway, I soon got her out of it, and we had a hysterical walk home. Tomorrow, when I am working nights, I intend compiling a list of eligible bachelors, purely for fun of course, and send it to Judith. The poor girl wants to settle down with a fat account and a peer of the realm, and knowing Judith, she'll do it. Home at 6.30. Dad tells me a good story about Prince Philip. Jim Barton, a local policeman, was on duty at Leeds City Station when the Queen and Prince Philip were in the vicinity; anyway, Barton was standing guard all alone in a siding as the Royal Train slowly pulled out, passing within yards of the PC. Feeling very much embarrassed the policeman stood to attention and saluted. To his amazement the prince, standing at a window and sporting one of his famous grins, raised his hand and thrusted two fingers into the air, leaving poor Barton stunned on the windswept siding. Of course, I don't believe it. It seems very much in character with the prince, but would he do such a thing to a policeman? Besides, one cannot believe anything a bobby says, especially in the Leeds area anyway. See tv in the evening and toy with the idea of ringing Philip Cartwright about the incident last night. Read 'Mrs Fitzherbert' by Anita Leslie. Very good. -==-

Wednesday May 8, 1974

Nothing at the YP. At 8 John and I go to the Emmotts where we sit with Laura, who is unusually cheerful and she manages to speak to both John and myself. Keith comes at 8.30, and we talk about films until Chris finally decides to walk in at about 9 o'clock.

Philip Cartwright comes up and says the bird with the Alpha Romeo, Judith or something, really fancies me and wants to see me in the Queen's tonight. John, Laura, Keith and Chris all leave at 9.30 and Philip and I go to the Queen's, where the two girls are assembled. We spend about an hour, the four of us, and at closing time they sod off with a couple of blokes leaving Philip and myself looking like a pair of silly buggers. I hate bloody stupid women, and especially women who make decent chaps look like idiots. We both shoot off and Philip drives like Hell let loose. Home at 11. Poor Philip apologises for wasting my evening. Judith, one of the tarts, rings me at about 11.15, but I act very cool. Wounded pride and all that. Must ring Philip tomorrow to see what further developments have occurred. John comes in not long after me and says he's been at the Hare and Hounds. Bed at 11.30. Interesting evening. Women make me sick.

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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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Monday May 6, 1974

Holiday in Scotland. Very busy day and feel dog tired. Glad to get home. Mum enjoyed her driving lesson this afternoon and is doing quite well by all accounts. The Queen was in Yorkshire today with the duke, and arrived at RAF Finningley - which is remarkable really because the Royal Family rarely venture into the wilds of South Yorkshire.

See 'Lord Peter Wimsey' at 9.30 - so cleverly portrayed by Ian Carmichael. Bed at 11.30 after seeing 'Emmerdale Farm' trash on YTV. Judith can imitate the lingo perfectly and keeps me in hysterics with her: "Can you smell gas, Dad, or is it me?"

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Sunday May 5, 1974

3rd after Easter. Rise at 12. Weather is quite cheerful until about 1.30 when it suddenly dulls over and begins to rain. Have lunch and a beer and a couple of glasses of horribly sweet sherry. John and I have driving lessons at 2, and we both go together, that is John sitting in the back of the car until 3, and then me sitting in the back between 3 and 4. Get back for tea and find Mum and Dad gone, Sue and Peter doing homework, and Lynn watching tv. We all have tea together.

I read "Anne and the Princesses Royal" by Helen Cathcart, which is a shocking book and I'm sure that I could write better. Cathcart has written hundreds of books on royal personages but the authenticity I find doubtful - too gossipy by far.

No one rings in the evening and when Sue and Peter go and see 'Mash' and 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' at Yeadon Cinema, only Lynn, John and myself remain all evening.

See Charles Laughton in 'Hobson's Choice' - a very good film indeed. Bed at 12. Mum and Dad are quite intoxicated, though more with high spirits than alcohol.

"Waterloo" by Abba.

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Saturday May 4, 1974

Mum gets me up at 9 and I go to Leeds on the 9.20 55 bus. Kathleen, Anne and Janice are working, and I do my usual routine until 1.30 when I go, leaving horrid little Janice to fend for herself. I wander out into the Headrow and find myself deep into a march of the Leeds Communist Party, which is hardly my cup of tea. My intention is to go to Burton's Arcade, but the heat, crowds of communists, and my lack of patience makes me decide not to bother.

Home after 3 and have a couple of chicken sandwiches and two beers. Mum, Dad, Sue, Peter, John and one of Dad's police friends are watching the FA Cup Final between Newcastle and Liverpool. Princess Anne presented the cup to Liverpool who win 3-0. The poor princess looked disgusted when the crowds were singing their own version of the National Anthem.

At 6.15 MM rings. He says that David, Marita and himself are going to the ABC Cinema in Leeds and asks me to join them. I say I'll ring Marita which I do at 6.30 after first contacting Chris. Marita picks me up at 6.45, with her mother, and we then get David, then MM. We go see 'The Great Gatsby' - starring Mia Farrow and Robert Redford. The others hate it, but somehow it doesn't have the same effect on me, and I enjoyed it. We all go back to MMs_____. Marita looked dead. David seems to have something wrong with his eyes. Marita brings me back at 1.30.

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