751212

MONDAY 1st DECEMBER 1975

Dad’s Army at the Shaftesbury

11.48pm. We are in Room No. 2290 at the Regent Palace Hotel, with Janet in the adjoining room No. 290. It is the 31st November according to the Hotel Reception! We have just come up from having coffee in the Lounge. Earlier we went to see Dad’s Army at the Shaftesbury Theatre. It was marvellous.

            We left Summerlands at 8.09am and drove to London via Shepton Mallet, Frome, Warminster, Andover and the M3, and stopped for half-an-hour at Fleet Service Station for coffee and a pastry. On our way into London we passed four places where there has been a bombing or similar outrage, Harrod’s, Spaghetti House (scene of the recent kidnapping), Green Park Station, and Piccadilly Circus where a letter box was blown up prior to our last visit.

            We have had rain all day long. We left the car at Denman Street at 12.15pm but had to wait about three-quarters of an hour before we could check in: the hotel is as crowded as ever. After lunch at our usual place, the Old Kentucky Restaurant in Haymarket, we walked to St Catherine’s House, the rain having abated somewhat. We were there until 4.00pm, then we had a cup of tea at the Kardomah before walking to the Shaftesbury Theatre to pick up the tickets [A9, 10 and 11] for tonight’s show. We got soaked walking there down Neal Street and then back to the Hotel down Shaftesbury Avenue.

            Leaving our clothes to dry in our rooms we had tea in Garry’s to save going out again. We had some nice chicken and lettuce sandwiches, then Freda and I had a chocolate éclair. Our meal finished, there was just time to get changed before going to the theatre. It was still raining heavily so we had a taxi there and back.

            The show was immensely enjoyable. All the Dad’s Army TV cast were in it except John Laurie. There was Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier, Clive Dunn, Arnold Ridley, Ian Lavender, Bill Pertwee (whom we saw at the Criterion in Here Comes the Bride), Frank Williams and Edward Sinclair, Jan Davies, Joan Cooper (Mrs Arthur Lowe) and Pamela Cundell, and a full company besides. One of the highlights of the show was Bill Pertwee’s impersonation of Max Miller. Arthur Lowe’s Captain Mainwaring was impeccable.

            After the show we had to wait some time for a taxi. When we got back up to our room I realised I had left this Diary in the car so went to get it. The rain was so heavy that I got drenched running the few yards back to the Hotel.

TUESDAY 2nd DECEMBER

Stop the Escalator!

11.00pm. We are very tired after a busy day. Janet had a ‘phone call from her mother this morning at 7.35am then we had breakfast at 8.00am, after which we walked down Regent Street and Oxford Street to Seymour Street where we were calling at the National Canine Defence League to take them some used stamps.

            Next we took the tube from Oxford Circus to Sloan Square via Victoria, from where we were walking to Oakley Street to call on Miss Fitzgerald. Coming up the escalator at Sloane Square we heard a cry and looking behind we saw that an old lady had fallen over. I rushed up the escalator and put my fist through the alarm to stop the escalator, and Janet and I rushed down to pick her up. She was badly shaken up but declined any attention, but ascertaining that she was going to her daughter’s, I hailed a taxi and paid her fare.

            After this we walked down Kings Road, Chelsea, to Miss Fitzgerald’s [at 17 Oakley Street], getting there at two minutes past eleven. She gave us coffee and biscuits and we were there for an hour and a quarter, She is 87½ and living in dreadful conditions in a top floor flat. She is Irish, one of eight children whose father was a professor at Dublin University.

            After leaving Miss Fitzgerald’s we walked up Sidney Street [remembering the famous siege of January 1911] to South Kensington, then took the tube back to Piccadilly Circus and came back up to our rooms before having lunch at the Old Kentucky. I had an omelette followed by a pancake with chocolate sauce. We were by now pretty tired so instead off going to the Public Records Office we returned to the Hotel to rest for half-an-hour. I dropped off to sleep.

            After this we went shopping and I bought Freda an Astralia simulated fur coat from Selfridges which was reduced from £60-odd to £50. We had previously tried to get one at Swan & Edgar’s, a fur shop in Oxford Street, and Debenham’s. On the way back we called at British Home Stores for Janet to buy some toothpaste.

            On our return to the Hotel we had a wash then went straight out again to the Old Kentucky and had turkey sandwiches and a cup of tea, after which there was just time for us to rest for 40 minutes before going to the Piccadilly Theatre, opposite the Hotel, to see Kwa Zulu. [We had seats B15, 16 and 17 in the Stalls.] It was very impressive . Ipi Tombi which we saw in Birmingham a few weeks ago is now on at Her Majesty’s

            After the show we went to the Old Kentucky again. We each had a slice of cherry pie and a cup of tea.

WEDNESDAY 3rd DECEMBER

The Hon. Selina Shuttleworth

11.24pm. Our stay in London is almost at an end and tomorrow we return to Birmingham. We had breakfast at 8.00am then after prayer together in our room we went to have a look around Liberty’s, an old fashioned store which this year has celebrated its centenary.

            After this we went to Parton Street, opposite the Old Kentucky, to book seats [A14,15 and 16] for A Touch of Spring at the Comedy Theatre, then took the tube to South Kensington to go and see Mrs Shuttleworth at 999 Clareville Crescent [whom we have known for almost a decade]. She is 91, the daughter of the son of the Earl of Bradford, and a distant cousin of the Queen. She used to be Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Mary. She is an incredible woman, eccentric but charming. The house was filled with papers, bits of electrical apparatus and dozens of pictures she had made illustrating various mystical phenomena mentioned in the Scriptures. We were there from exactly 11.00am to 1.0pm, then returned to the Hotel, after which we had lunch at Swan & Edgar’s. Janet had a salad; Freda and I had egg, beans and chips, and yoghourt.

            After lunch we walked to St Catherine’s House to pick up some certificates then, leaving Janet there to do more research, Freda and I went on to Portugal Street to study some old Census records. We left there at 4.30pm, met Janet outside St Catherine’s House, and returned to Swan & Edgar’s to have a cheese and tomato roll and a cup of tea.

On our return to the Hotel I paid our bill, then came up stairs to sleep for a little while before going out to the Theatre. The play was a romantic comedy starring Francis Matthews (who used to be Paul Temple on TV), Amanda Barrie, Leigh Lawson, and Jill Melford whom we saw in Not Now Darling. It was set in Rome, a very funny play and an excellent evening’s entertainments. Really, the three shows we have seen, all very different from each other, have each been splendid.

            After the show we went to have supper at the Old Kentucky. I had a pancake with strawberry sauce and the girls had fruit sundaes; we each had a lager and lime to finish with.

= = =  

FRIDAY 12th DECEMBER 1975

12.07am. We arrived at Kirkby Thore Hall [Brian and Elizabeth Bosomworth’s home] at 3.39pm after driving across the Pennines from Harrogate. We have had a Bible Study this evening [B.S. 463 Led by the Spirit] and are still sitting talking even though it is after midnight.

            We left Russell Road at exactly 8.00am and drove into the city and via the Aston Expressway and Spaghetti Junction to the A38. We then drove to Derby and joined the M1. We had coffee and a pastry at Woodhall Service Station then continued our journey via the M1, M18 and A1, crossing the Went Valley viaduct, and got to Harrogate at about 11.15am. After obtaining directions from the Information Department we drove straight to Arncliffe Road where arrived at Miss Edmondson’s just before 11.45am.

            The house is Ida Edmondson’s where her sister Betty stays between visits to Cheltenham, Malvern and other places. We were provided with coffee and bread rolls and a chocolate biscuit on our arrival, then at about 12.30pm the three of us went to see “our” Miss Edmondson (Betty) in the local hospital where she is recovering from a broken hip. (We have only got to know Ida Edmondson since her sister’s accident.)

            Betty was sitting in a day room and seemed quite overwhelmed to see us. She reminded me very much of my later grandmother [Minnie Jane Williams] who died in 1946 of emphysema. But grandma was only 63, Miss Edmondson is 84 and her sister Ida 88. There was the same droop of the soldiers [sic. shoulders] and an unhappy look in the eyes, although she has quite a sweet face. She has a walking frame to get about but is very frightened of falling. For the umpteenth time this year I wished I could do something to help these poor souls.

            We talked for about 40minutes then I read a Psalm and prayed with the two sisters, and then it was time to resume our journey via Ripon to Scotch Corner and across the Pennines. The rain we had had earlier in the day had given way to sunshine and we had a lovely journey, enjoying the beautiful scenery and the setting sun. Approaching Appleby I remembered how years ago we met Gillian Chilton in Durham. Just then we saw her but could not stop.

SATURDAY 13th DECEMBER

12.07am. I feel that this has been a momentous day. We have been talking for about three hours and during the course of conversation I said to Elizabeth that it was the Lord’s will that she renounce her share of her father [Mr. Handley]’s inheritance. To our astonishment she said that Psalm 45:10 had twice this week been impressed upon her. So this is the Word of the Lord and Elizabeth says she will obey it. I feel that this is a great miracle and the beginning of tremendous things for Brian and Elizabeth, and I am as thrilled as if a great miracle had happened to me.

SUNDAY 14th DECEMBER

9.12pm. We are back home in Birmingham once again after travelling 486.45 miles since Friday morning. So much has happened and I have had time to record so little. While I was making last night’s brief entry, Brian came in to tell me that one of the cows was calving. I went into the barn and saw the calf born. It was a lovely bull calf. I felt it was an omen of the great things the Lord will do for Brian and Elizabeth now that she has surrendered her family. When I came indoors again I typed the letter for Elizabeth to send to the solicitor. It was by then 1.00am and it was even later before we got to bed.

            For the second night running neither of us slept very well. We were overtired, so much happened, and beside that we were cold. We got up at 7.40am, intending to leave by 8.30am, but before we could do so Charles asked me, “Uncle Brian, how do I give my heart to Jesus?”, and when I explained he there and then got down on his hands and knees and prayed for Jesus to come into his heart. And then, as if she had understood it all (as I am sure she did) little Angela who is only 14 months old, went and hugged him. So this was another miracle, and I remembered how, not many hours before, Elizabeth had said that really, more than wanting to leave a lot of money to Charles and Elizabeth, she wanted them to love the Lord. I have been impressing upon Brian the importance of Charles having a real crisis experience with the Lord, so this was an answer to prayer.

            After prayer together we left Kirkby Thore Hall at 8.40am, heading for Bebington where we were calling on the Redferns. We drove out to the motorway via Appleby and Orton, as we did last time. As soon as we got to Tebay we hit fog and it never lifted all day. This slowed us down a lot, and it was already 10.20am by the time we got to Charnock Richard Service Station where we stopped for a buttered scone with strawberry jam and a cup of coffee.

            Afterwards we continued our journey down the motorway until Junction 24 where we turned off for Liverpool. We actually drove through Walton: the last time we were there I was visiting Norman in prison. After Liverpool we drove for the first time through the Mersey Tunnel, then joined the M53. We got to the Redferns’ [at 17 Withert Avenue] just before midday and were there until 2.30pm. It was nearly ten past five when we arrived home.