Mum – Pain not so good but told them it was OK. Left hos about 2. Cecil drove A & E & me to Glasgow in evening, then car broke down. We went 1st class by train to Edinburgh & stayed night at Royal Scot Hotel. Lovely place (& price £19.75).
Roger – I got up fairly early due to a telephone call from Mr Ashken. I rang grandma to find out what is happening tomorrow. She is coming at ½ 8 to get the house ready for mum’s return. I went round Spick’s after lunch and Caroline met me her [there]. I spent the afternoon with her as she is going of [off] to Desborough on Friday.
In the Olympics Dave Starbrook won a Bronze medal in the light heavyweight judo class. The Steeplechase final is later tonight with 2 Britons in but they stand little chance. Both Brendan Foster & Ian Stewart qualified for the 5000m final on Friday. Caroline brought me a flick-knife from France. It must have cost her about £2. They are legal there but illegal over here. Vic Feather, the ex-general secretary of the TUC has died following a stroke & the British Government has broken off diplomatic relation with the Amin regime in Uganda.
Notes
Dunoon
Mum and my two siblings Alan (A) and Liz (E for Elizabeth) were in Dunoon. They had been on a two-week holiday at Dhalling Mhor, the Christian Guild place in Dunoon, see Chapter 122. They had been due to travel home the previous Saturday but had been unable to because mum had been unwell.
Mum’s Illness
Mum had been unwell with vomiting and severe left-sided back pain. The previous Sunday, the GP had come at 10 am and sent her to Dunoon hospital. She had been admitted and given four-hourly pentazocine (Fortral) injections, see Chapter 116. On this day, mum noted that the pain was “not so good” but she told them, presumably the hospital staff, that it was OK. I suspect she did this because she wanted to go home!
Travelling Home
Mum noted that she started her journey home to Norwich. She left the hospital (hos) about 2 pm. Her friend Cecil drove her and my younger siblings Alan (A) and Liz (E for Elizabeth) in mum’s car to Glasgow but then the car broke down! I am not sure how far they had intended to drive but they continued the journey by first class train to Edinburgh where they stayed at the Royal Scot Hotel overnight. Mum considered this a lovely place and also a lovely price at only £19.75.
Cecil
While I am not exactly sure who Cecil was, he and mum seemed close in the late seventies writing to each other frequently. My impression is that they had met on a Methodist Guild Holiday prior to 1975. This year, mum was disappointed that she had managed to book her holiday in Dunoon so that she was leaving on the day he arrived! However, because of her illness, their time together overlapped more than she had originally thought it would. Nevertheless, over time their correspondence gradually reduced and the last letter mum noted receiving from him was in July 1977. In June 1978, mum heard from Joyce Boxall that Cecil was remarrying and this upset her, see Chapter 114.
The Car
At this time, mum had a Simca that she and dad had bought in February 1972 before they split up, see Chapter 110. There had been quite a number of problems with the car over previous months, see Chapter 127. I am not sure exactly what happened to the car when mum left it in Glasgow. I assume she expected Cecil to sort it out and presumably he did. Mum does not specifically mention it again but, in my diary for 6 August 1976, I noted that “the car came back from Scotland today but Mr Beck didn’t bring it as the clutch has burnt out so it came back on AA relay“. I don’t know if this means that Cecil and Mr Beck were one and the same person. Very possibly it does but I have not as yet been able to confirm this.
Royal Scot Hotel
I have found adverts for this hotel covering the period 1973 to 1999. It appears that the hotel opened in July 1973. In 1989, one of the adverts announced the opening of a new Swallow Leisure Club at the hotel. In 1996, there was a note saying the hotel was not for sale contrary to an announcement in The Scotsman. The hotel’s address was 111 Glasgow Road. Delta Hotels Edinburgh, a Marriott Hotel is now at the address. Apparently, the name changed in June 2010.
Telephone Call
At home, I noted that I got up fairly early because of a phone call from Mr Ashken. However, I did not note the time of this call or whether Mr Ashken was asking for, or giving me, information about mum.
Mum Worked for Mr Ashken
During this period, mum was working as part-time medical secretary for the private practice of two surgeons, Mr Ashken and Mr Stephens, see Chapter 121. Michael Ralph Handley Ashken was consultant urologist at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital from 1968 to 1996. He was also President of the British Association of Urological Surgeons from 1994 to 1996. He was born in 1931 and he died in 2016. Mum was part-time secretary for his private practice from 1975 to 1980.
Phoning Grandma
I phoned my maternal grandmother to find out plans for the next day. It seems that mum had probably been dealing with her rather than directly with my older sister Tricia (Patricia) or me. Grandma explained that she would be coming round at 8.30 am to “get the house ready for mum’s return“. I was not happy that she was doing this so had planned to be out when she came!
Michael Grey
“Spick” refers to my school friend Michael Grey, see Chapter 118. For some reason, he was always known by that nickname and, as far as I know, it did not have any intended negative connotations. I went round to his house after lunch.
Caroline Kingham
Caroline refers to Caroline Kingham, my girlfriend at that time. She had been away for a week on holiday in France. I am not sure why we met at Michael Grey’s house but assume that they lived near each other. I do not recall where that was, possibly Greenways. I noted that we spent the afternoon together as she was leaving for Desborough on Friday. I am not sure what she was doing there, visiting family possibly.
I recall Caroline and would consider her as my first “proper” girlfriend, see Chapter 122. We went out for a relatively long period by the teenage standards of that time, but it was probably less than a month all told! I confess that I was unable to recall her surname but was able to track it down as my mother and her mother later worked together. I don’t know much about what happened to her but I believe she may have married Marcus Adam Batch in June 1982.
A Flick-knife
I noted that she had brought me a flick-knife which she had bought in France where apparently their sale, purchase and ownership was legal. I was aware that they were illegal in the UK but I guess was fascinated to have been given one. I thought it probably cost her about £2. I am not sure what happened to it. I suspect I kept it hidden away somewhere!
Apparently, their manufacture, sale and importation was made illegal in the UK in 1959 but owning one in private only became illegal in 2019. I was not aware of this. So, I suppose Caroline had broken the law but technically I hadn’t! Apparently, it remains legal to own a flick-knife in France but carrying them or transporting them is illegal.
Olympics
I noted a few things from the Olympics that day, see Chapter 123.
Judo Medal
I noted that Dave Starbrook had won a bronze medal in the judo light-heavyweight class. He won two Olympic judo medals for Great Britain, silver in 1972 and bronze in 1976. In 1976, he competed in the men’s judo 93kg class. He received a bye in the first round and won by walkover in the second round against Mohamed Zouagh from Morocco. He then beat Jorge Portelli from Argentina and Jean-Luc Rougé from France before losing to eventual silver medallist Ramaz Kharshiladze of the Soviet Union. He secured his bronze medal by defeating Jo Jae-gi in the repechage.
3000m Steeplechase Final
I noted that the steeplechase final was later that night with two Britons in it but I considered that they stood little chance. This was referring to the men’s 3,000m steeplechase. There had been two heats three days earlier and the top six had gone through from each heat. In terms of British athletes, Dennis Coates won the second heat and Tony Staynings qualified sixth in the same heat. John Bicourt was in the first heat but finished eighth and did not progress. The fastest qualifying time of 8:18.56 was set by Bronislaw Malinowski of Poland who would go on to win silver. In the final, Dennis Coates finished ninth and Tony Staynings 11th.
5000m Heats
I noted that both Brendan Foster and Ian Stewart qualified for the 5000m final on Friday (30th). Three heats of the men’s 5000m had been held that day with the top four qualifying from each heat plus the two fastest losers. British athletes Ian Stewart and Brendan Foster qualified fourth in the second heat and winner of the third heat respectively. Brendan Foster ran the fastest qualifying time of 13:20.34. Fellow Briton Dave Black finished ninth in the first heat and failed to progress. In the final, Brendan Foster finished fifth and Ian Stewart seventh.
Vic Feather
Victor (Vic) Grayson Hardie Feather was General Secretary of the TUC from 1969 to 1973. He was born in 1908 in Bradford. He started work at 14 and joined the Shopworkers’ Union. He was shop steward aged 15 and chairman of the branch committee at 21. In 1937, he joined the staff of the TUC working his way up to Assistant Secretary in 1947 and Assistant General Secretary in 1960. He became a Lord in 1974. He died aged 68.
Diplomatic Relations with Uganda
I noted that the British government had broken off diplomatic relations with the regime of Idi Amin in Uganda. He came to power in 1971 following a military coup. While the UK initially supported him, the relationship deteriorated with the expulsion of Ugandan Asians in 1972 and the Ugandan involvement in the 1976 hijacking that led to the so-called Operation Entebbe. In 1979, Tanzania ousted him from power and he went into exile first in Libya, then IRaq and finally Saudi Arabia.
According to Wikipedia, the UK broke off diplomatic relations with his regime in 1977. However, it seems this happened on 29 July 1976 as noted in my diary. Newspaper reports of that day quoted Foreign Secretary Anthony Crosland who said that he had decided with deep regret to cut diplomatic ties with Uganda. This was the first time that Britain had ever taken such a step against a Commonwealth country. There had been four years of tension but the final straw had been the expulsion of two British diplomats, including acting High Commissioner James Horrocks, during the Dora Bloch affair. Dora Bloch had been in hospital at the time of Operation Entebbe. She later vanished having been murdered by Ugandan troops.
The Wikipedia date may be explained because following Britain’s closure of its High Commission, a British Interests Section operated under the protection of the French Embassy until this was closed by Amin in May 1977.
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