Mum – Moved kitchen round in am. Typed & dup in aft. Almost finished dress in evening. FR rang briefly. V tired. 1S.
Roger – At lunch-time played football. After school did some work. This evening Lizzy did some baking and Alan went to Boys’ Brigade he is still there. I watched TV and had a bath. Jeremy Thorpe has resigned as leader of the Liberal Party due to the Norman Scott affair.
Notes
Rearranging the Kitchen
Mum noted that she “moved kitchen round” in the morning (am). While I am not sure exactly what she did, I think she meant that she rearranged things in the kitchen. This was something she did fairly often within various rooms, see Chapter 117.
Typing and Duplicating
According to mum’s CV, see Chapter 105, she ran a typing and duplicating business from home until 1975. However, she did typing and duplicating after this date, particularly for the church, see Chapter 121. On this occasion, she noted typing and duplicating (dup) in the afternoon (aft).
Making a Dress
Mum was making a blue, red and white dress, see Chapter 126. She referred to it as princess style. As far as I know, a princess style, or princess line, dress is one made with long panels meaning there is no separation at the waist between the bodice and skirt. She had started making it the previous day and noted that she almost finished it in the evening.
Rev Dowson
FR refers to Rev F R Dowson. Frederick Rodham Dowson entered the Methodist ministry in 1936. He was born in Haxby, York on 5 August 1912 and he died in Selsey on 4 September 2011, aged 99. I believe he was superintendent Minister for the Park Lane Circuit from 1968 to 1974. He and mum were close and they spoke and corresponded frequently, see Chapter 114. On this occasion, he rang briefly.
Very Tired
Mum noted that she was very tired at night. Mum complained fairly frequently of tiredness and exhaustion at this time, see Chapter 116.
Senokot
Mum took one Senokot (S) presumably for constipation, see Chapter 116. Senokot is a senna-containing medicine for the treatment of constipation.
Football
I noted that at school I played football at lunch-time, see Chapter 118.
Homework
After school, I noted that I did some work, presumably homework, see Chapter 118. My diary is not completely clear whether I did this at school or when I got home.
Baking and Boys’ Brigade
Lizzy and Alan refer to my two younger siblings. I don’t ever recall calling Liz (Elizabeth) Lizzy but clearly I did at this time. On this occasion, she did some baking, see Chapter 126. I noted that Alan had gone to Boys’ Brigade and was still there when I was writing my diary.
TV
I noted that I watched TV, see Chapter 122, and had a bath. However, I did not note what I saw on TV.
Jeremy Thorpe
I noted that Jeremy Thorpe had resigned as leader of the Liberal party over what I referred to as the “Norman Scott affair“, see Chapter 129.
Grandad had mentioned Jeremy Thorpe in 1970 when he noted who the leaders of the various parties were at the time of the election when my father stood for election, see Chapter 112.
Norman Scott
Norman Josiffe, known in the media as Norman Scott, alleged that he and Jeremy Thorpe had had a homosexual affair and that when Scott threatened to make this public, Thorpe hired a gunman to kill him. However, there was a trial in 1979. Jeremy Thorpe and the other three defendants were acquitted. Nevertheless, Jeremy Thorpe’s reputation had been badly damaged and never recovered.
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