Week 14 : 3rd April 1960 – 9th April 1960

Here’s what was going on in the world this week in 1960

• At the 32nd Academy Awards ceremony, Ben-Hur won a record eleven Oscars, including Best Picture.
• In the first major primary for the Democratic nomination, voters in Wisconsin overwhelmingly favoured John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts over Hubert Humphrey from neighbouring Minnesota. The margin was 478,118 to 372,034. Vice-President Nixon was unopposed for the Republican nomination.
• In an event described as “unique in world postal history”, the governments of 70 nations simultaneously issued stamps to commemorate World Refugee Year.
• Under the Unlawful Organisations Act No. 34, the African National Congress and Pan Africanist Congress parties were banned in South Africa. This resulted in the formation by Nelson Mandela and others of “Umkonto we Sizwe” (“Spear of the Nation”), the guerrilla wing of the ANC.
• Project Ozma, under the direction of astronomer Frank Drake at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, in Green Bank, West Virginia, began a search for extraterrestrial life. After detecting nothing from Tau Ceti, Drake steered the telescope toward Epsilon Eridani and picked up signals at precisely eight times per second. As rumours spread that the Project had picked up signs of intelligent life, the source of the signal was traced to an airplane.
• In West Germany and the Netherlands signed a border agreement to restore land taken during the Dutch annexation of German territory after World War II. Germany agreed to pay DM 280,000,000 for the return of Elten, Selfkant (Zelfkant), and Suderwick (Zuiderwijk) and as reparations.
• South Africa’s Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd was shot and seriously wounded by David Pratt, a white farmer, in Johannesburg. Verwoerd survived, but would be stabbed to death in 1966.

And here’s what was keeping Peggy busy:

Sunday 3rd April 1960
Ted S (Birthday)
A blustery day today after a wet night. Cyril has done some digging in the back & this afternoon he took Jill & Sue for a short walk. I’ve just written to Dad & am now going to knit!

Monday 4th April 1960
Ellen de Loong (Birthday)
Quite warm today – we should see the grass coming up soon. I’ve finished my washing & ironing – we’ve only been for a short walk – as far as the paper shop into the Recreation Ground. Washed my hair. Not a very exciting budget.

Tuesday 5th April 1960
Dull day. I’ve been expecting the maintenance man to come & see to cracks etc – but he didn’t turn up! We’ve been to the village & I’ve bought wool to start another cardigan for Jill – a thick knit one!

Wednesday 6th April 1960
Cyril at Farnboro’
Dr Lyttle was very pleased with Philip today & has decided to start his innoculations this month. I have to take Phil for a blood test at the end of May. Very April showery today & we have the carpenter in!!

Thursday 7th April 1960
Daphne. (Birthday)
Very warm this morning – almost like a summers day. The carpenter has finished so I’ve made a start at cleaning ?down – it’s going to be a long hard job. Raining now – 5.15pm

Friday 8th April 1960
I rang Cyril this afternoon – & he tells me he’s passed his board – but that it means outstation posting! – He couldn’t say much on the phone, so I’m anxious for him to come home. Another very fine day – haven’t had the fire lit all morning. I feel so sad – we’ve had to have our poor Susie taken away – her ears were getting worse. I can’t believe I won’t see her again.

Saturday 9th April 1960
It’s inevitable I suppose – my thoughts keep turning to Susie – I find myself looking round for her & Gillian has asked for “my Susie” several times.
Its a nice afternoon after a very showery morning. Cyril went to Esher – then finished washing the walls for me while I prepared the lunch – he’s gardening in the back this afternoon – with Gillian’s help?

Week 13 : 27th March 1960 – 3rd April 1960

Here’s what was going on in the world this week in 1960

• The last regularly scheduled service in America of a passenger train pulled by a steam engine took place when Grand Trunk Western Railroad ran a steam locomotive for the last time, on a route between Detroit and Durand, Michigan.
• A state of emergency was proclaimed in South Africa by Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd nine days after the Sharpeville Massacre, and the government began arresting dissidents. On the same day, thirty thousand black South Africans marched through Cape Town in protest of the pass laws, the massacre, and the arrest of black leaders.
• The United States launched the first weather satellite, the 270 pound TIROS-1, from Cape Canaveral. The name was an acronym for Television Infra-Red Observation Satellite. The same evening, satellite weather photos were introduced to the world, on television, for the first time. Taken from an altitude of 450 miles, the pictures of cloud cover confirmed the spiral pattern of winds in a storm.
• A treaty was signed by France and nationalists in Madagascar, assuring the independence of the Malagasy Republic, which followed in June of the same year.
• R Griggs & Co. began the production of Dr. Martens boots under licence in the UK. Known as style 1460, the original product is still in production today.
• British track athlete, Lindford Christie, winner of the the 100m 1992 Olympic gold medal and 1993 world championships, was born in Saint Andrew, Jamaica.

And here’s what was keeping Peggy busy:

Sunday 27th March 1960
I’ve had a very nice Mother’s Day! – cup saucer & plate from Jill – and an apron from Phil. Cyril has done all the washing up! We’ve had a lazy afternoon – it’s such a cold day.

Monday 28th March 1960
Cold & wet  – & my cold isn’t any better. Gillian seems to be losing her cough – she hasn’t been out since Friday. I’ve dried all the wash (except nappies) & ironed this pm. Gillian Mott came in to play & stayed to tea.

Tuesday 29th March 1960
Cyril board at 4.25.
I’ve been thinking of Cyril & his board all day! I bet he’s been thinking of it too! Very cold & wet here and we haven’t been out again. Poor Philip has the cold & cough now & is spluttering & coughing a lot.

Wednesday 30th March 1960
Still dull – we’re waiting for the sun to shine on the lawn!! Phil’s cold is very heavy still – I’ve put the cot up for him today as he’s not really safe in the the Carry-cot. We’ve been out for an hour this pm – to the clinic.

Thursday 31st March 1960
Much nicer day today & quite mild. The children have both been very good – we’ve been out for a couple of hours – to the village. Takes a long time with Jill walking!

Friday 1st April 1960
Busy day today. With the washing & ironing & gardening! I’ve been baking this evening to save having to do it with Gillian’s help tomorrow!! Letters from Jacq & Olive today.

Saturday 2nd April 1960
Mrs Mac.
It’s been a fine day – Cyril went to L’head early & did some hard digging on his return. I finished all my chores – had an early lunch settled Philip & took Gilian to L’head for an hour. We both enjoyed ourselves. Phil slept all afternoon. Cyril did more hard digging – he can hardly move now. I’ve turned his shirt cuffs tonight & brought my books up to date & am now going to write letters. (7.45pm) – Bathed the infants together tonight!!

Week 11 : 13th March 1960 – 26th March 1960

 

We missed a week so here’s two for the price of one…

Here’s what was going on in the world this week in 1960

• Author Ian Fleming was a dinner guest at the home of future American President John F. Kennedy, and described to the assemblage some humorous suggestions for how James Bond would get rid of Fidel Castro, including causing Castro’s beard to fall out. CIA official John Bross, another dinner guest, called agency director Allen Dulles afterward and reported Fleming’s “ideas”, some of which were tried later.
• West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer met with Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City, the first time a German leader had conferred with a leader of the Jewish state. Two weeks earlier, the two countries had secretly negotiated German financial and military aid to Israel.
• Robert Sobukwe, leader of the Pan Africanist Congress, gave advance notice to South Africa’s police commissioner that, beginning on March 21, the PAC would stage five days of non-violent protests against national laws that required all black South Africans to carry passes. What was intended as a peaceful demonstration would become the Sharpeville Massacre.
• Following a meeting at the White House with Allen Dulles and Richard Bissell of the CIA, President Eisenhower authorised the agency to train and equip Cuban exiles to overthrow the regime of Fidel Castro, an operation which would become, in 1961, the Bay of Pigs Invasion.
• Johnny Prestons ‘Running Bear’ reached No. 1 in the UK singles chart.
• LeRoy Collins, the Governor of Florida, surprised the state and the rest of the world in a televised speech. Though he had been a defender of Florida’s segregation laws, Governor Collins endorsed the goal of sit-in demonstrations to allow African-Americans to eat at lunch counters. “People have told me that our racial strife could be eliminated if the colored people would just stay in their place,” said the Governor, “but friends, we can never stop Americans from struggling to be free.”
• The Sharpeville Massacre began at 1:20 p.m. on March 21st when white police at the South African township of Sharpeville fired their guns into a crowd of unarmed black protesters, killing 69 people and wounding 180. Subsequent investigations would determine that two policemen had fired their guns, and that 50 others then began shooting into the crowd as they fled. Within 40 seconds, 705 rounds were fired. Of 155 bullets extracted from the dead and wounded, only 30 were frontal entry wounds. Most of the victims had been shot in the back as they ran. Of the dead, 31 were women, and 19 were children.
• Arthur Leonard Schawlow and Charles H. Townes of Bell Labs received U.S. patent No. 2,929,922 for an optical maser, now more commonly referred to as the laser. Other scientists, including Gordon Gould, were working on their own discoveries for “light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation”, and legal battles between Gould and Bell Labs continued for 28 years.

And here’s what was keeping Peggy busy:

Sunday 13th March 1960
Philip’s Baptism.
Lucy (birthday)
We’ve had a lovely day – our little darling was received into the church at 330 – with many of our friends present. A short service which was just as well as Gillian was beginning to get troublesome & inquisitive! She’s been very good though – & Phil. Had a nice party afterwards 17 to tea & 7 to lunch!

Monday 14th March 1960
Carolyn. (birthday)
Not a very bright day – but I’ve washed & ironed – & had a couple of children into tea with Gillian – thought she deserved a treat after being so good yesterday – and last night. I’ve just been out & given Joan?? a surprise by ringing her.

Tuesday 15th March 1960
John. (birthday)
A nice day – I’ve had a very busy morning polishing the lounge after Sunday’s “do” – the hall was in a state too. I’m also in a state – wondering what has happened to my “What is its” !!!! Mrs Chapman came for a walk in the woods with us.

Wednesday 16th March 1960
I’m feeling very depressed  – & have just had a dose of castor oil & a very hot bath!!! Cold day today – & grey – suited my mood. We’ve been to the clinic.

Thursday 17th March 1960
Timothy. Bill. (birthdays)
I’ve just been doing our poor Susie’s ears & putting drops in them – I’m almost sure she will have to go before too long. poor Sue. I was getting ready to go out this afternoon but Gillian fell asleep on our bed – so I stayed in & ironed instead.

Friday 18th March 1960
Kingston Hosp Blood Test for Phil. (No sign of it yet!!! still taking castor oil)
We’ve had a nice day out – took Phil to hospital – his blood has improved – He’s up to 78 now – so its not quite right. Afterwards Jill had her hair cut in Bentalls & we bought a push chair for Phil – one he can lie back in! Been to L’head this pm

Saturday 19th March 1960
-X- T.G!! There’s no young Ward on the way -X-
I was beginning to get very anxious & had almost made up my mind it was so! Cyril took the car back this morning & was back by 9.40 – so he’s spent a long time in the garden & has finished preparing the lawn.
I’ve washed, ironed & been up to the village. Gillian is sleeping in a bed tonight.

Sunday 20th March 1960
A lovely spring like day – Cyril is out in the garden this morning. I’ve been busy indoors & have just come in from taking the three in the woods. Cyril had a bath while we were out.

Monday 21st March 1960
Lovely day again for the first of Spring & the children have been good so I’ve washed & ironed They are both in the garden now (2.30) & as soon as Phil wakes up I’m going to clean the pram.
Cyril at Farnboro’ this week.

Tuesday 22nd March 1960
Another grand day – & the children have been very good. Letter for Cyril this am telling him his board is next Tuesday! Do hope he is successful. We’ve just come in from the village Gillian is very tired.

Wednesday 23rd March 1960
We haven’t been out today- I’ve put in a couple of hours in the garden this afternoon, with Gillian’s help. Have to iron tonight to make up for it – & then on with the knitting.

Thursday 24th March 1960
We’ve been up to the village this morning (its always a bit of a rush going out before lunch) – & this afternoon I’ve been doing some more gardening. Gillian hasn’t had a very happy day. Cyril lunching with Valerie today.

Friday 25th March 1960
Olive (birthday)
Dull again this afternoon – we had to go to the shop to buy a Mothers Day card for Mum – but we weren’t away long and I was able to put in an hour in the garden.

Saturday 26th March 1960
Darn it – both Gillian & I have colds – she was spitting up phlegm last night so I had her in bed with me & Cyril slept in the single bed. Today we’ve both stayed in – & baked – & washed – & ironed. Cyril has been very busy laying the back lawn. I shall be waiting to see it pop up now!! My spoons arrived from Kelloggs & they’re very nice.

Week 10 : 6th March 1960 – 12th March 1960

Here’s what was going on in the world this week in 1960

• Four Russian soldiers who had been adrift in the Pacific Ocean since January 17, were rescued after a 49-day search. The American aircraft carrier U.S.S. Kearsarge picked up the four men – Sgt. Viktor Zygonschi, Antony Kruckhowske, Filip Poplavski, and Feodor Ivan.
• President Eisenhower announced that 3,500 American troops would be posted to South Vietnam.
• The Food Additives Amendment to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act took effect. Prior to the amendment, there was no requirement for government approval of additives to food sold in the United States.
• The Scribner shunt, a flexible Teflon tube that could be permanently implanted to connect to an artery, was first implanted into a human patient – 39-year-old Clyde Shields. For the first time, those with kidney failure could receive dialysis on a regular basis. Prior to the shunt’s invention by Dr. Belding H. Scribner, glass tubes had to be inserted into blood vessels every time that dialysis was given. As one observer noted, “Scribner took something that was 100% fatal and overnight turned it into a condition with a 90% survival.”
• The first implantation of the caged ball heart valve, developed by Drs. Dwight E. Harken and William C. Birtwell, was made on Mary Richardson, who survived for 30 years after the surgery.
• Eight persons were pulled alive from the rubble of Agadir, ten days after the earthquake that had killed 12,000 people in Morocco.
• The journal Physical Review Letters received the paper “Apparent Weight of Photons” from physicists Robert V. Pound and Glen A. Rebka, Jr., reporting the first successful laboratory measurement of the gravitational redshift of light, described later as a key event in proving Einstein’s theory of general relativity.

And here’s what was keeping Peggy busy:

Sunday 6th March 1960
Dick & Phyllis.
We’ve had a very nice day out at Dick & Phyllis’. It surprised us – the short distance we were home in half an hour. No sickness from Jill this time.  

Monday 7th March 1960
Very cold & Gillian has been so bad tempered that I’ve really had to smack her several times! We all – including Sue went off for a short walk in the woods. Shall have to iron tonight. 

Tuesday 8th March 1960
Very cold again – we haven’t been out at all – Cyril took a shopping list with him – went to Sainsburys at lunch time. Gillian hasn’t been quite so naughty today. I tried to do some baking but it wasn’t very successful! Going to ice the cake tonight. 

Wednesday 9th March 1960
Cyril (birthday).
Cyril had twelve cards – & a tie from Anne – so he ‘did’ quite well. 50 cigs from his Mum 5 Mannikin from Jill & Phil & tie from me. Been wet today so we haven’t been out. Cyril gave us a nice surprise by having a half day. Phil has been very good – he started the day with orange juice instead of a bottle.

Thursday 10th March 1960
Andrew (birthday)
Finished the cake last night & it looks very good. Lovely day today so we’ve been for a walk to the village. Jill hasn’t been particularly happy – Phil has been very good.

Friday 11th March 1960
Marion Mac (birthday)
I’ve done my washing & ironing today so hope to be able to bake tonight. Daphne is coming to set my hair so I must get cracking. Wet this afternoon.

Saturday 12th March 1960
Had a nice day today – have been doing bits & pieces for tomorrow, this morning. Cyril went to Surbiton collected the car – A40 & did the general shopping.
This afternoon Mrs Chapman had Phil while Cyril, Jill & I went into Leatherhead – I bought a bra & some nylons. Have certainly been living it up these last two weekends!

Week 9 : 28th February 1960 – 5th March 1960

Here’s what was going on in the world this week in 1960

• A tip from a Soviet player helped the United States ice hockey team win the gold medal in the 1960 Winter Olympics. Exhausted from a 3–2 victory over the Soviet Union’s team the day before, the Americans were losing to Czechoslovakia, 4–3, with one period left. Nikolai Sologubov suggested whiffs of bottled oxygen for quick energy, and the U.S. responded with six goals, winning 9–4.
• At 11:47 p.m., the city of Agadir in Morocco was shaken for 15 seconds by an earthquake measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale, followed by another tremor an hour later. At least 12,000 people were killed in the collapse of unreinforced stone buildings.
• St. Louis radio station KMOX revolutionized radio with the debut of a live call-in program called At Your Service.
• NASA established an Office of Life Sciences to work on exobiology, based on Dr. Joshua Lederberg’s ideas that space vehicles should be sterilized before and after their missions in order to prevent the possibility of contamination of outer space or of the Earth by microbes.
• At 3:10 pm, the French cargo ship La Coubre, carrying 70 tons of munitions from Belgium, exploded in Havana Harbor while it was being unloaded. A second explosion happened while aid was being rendered. Seventy-six people were killed, all but six of them bystanders, and more than 200 were injured.
• The iconic image of Che Guevara was taken by photographer Alberto Korda, who was on assignment from the Cuban government newspaper Revolucion to cover a protest rally the day after the explosion of the freighter La Coubre.

 

And here’s what was keeping Peggy busy:

Sunday 28th February 1960
I’m very tired after our bad night – Jill is still full of cold & inclined to be irritable. It’s been a glorious spring like day & we’ve been out gardening this pm. Phil had some bacon for his breakfast today.

Monday 29th February 1960
Phil woke with a streaming nose – & running eyes this morning – but he’s been very good & hasn’t slept most of the day. Its been a very mild day again – but more windy than yesterday. Letter from Joan saying they had had Teena put down. Have only one chair cover left to wash.

Tuesday 1st March 1960
A sad incident today – Gillian bit Philip on the leg – a real bite & he did cry. I’ve had a heck of a day – the plumber was here half the morning – & the mud he trailed about had to be seen to be believed. We’ve been to the village this afternoon.  

Wednesday 2nd March 1960
Cyril at Bedford.
Looks stormy today – but so far it has kept fine. We were out early today to the clinic – Philip has gained nearly 16ozs in two weeks! Gillian has put on too. Dr Lyttle has given a tonic for Jill.

Thursday 3rd March 1960
Cyril gone to Bedford again today & we’re expecting him home early. Jill has been at the window since 4pm looking for him. I’ve just given her a shampoo & early bath. Very blustery out. I’ve been to the village for Jill’s prescription Phil has been very good.

A 1960s Austin A55 Cambridge Mk2. I have a vague memory of my Dad (Cyril) talking in later life about driving an A55, so that was probably the one referred to in the diary.

Friday 4th March 1960
A beautiful spring like day – I’ve done a lot of washing Gillian & Philip both spent the morning in the garden – then afternoon we’ve been up to the village. Cyril called for the car for the weekend – its a beautiful new Austin.  

Saturday 5th February 1960
Grace (birthday).
Welling. We got away early – 7.40 & gave Mum the surprise of her life arriving at 49 at 9.15! Found our way without any trouble – had a couple of stops for Gillian who was sick. The car is a beauty & runs very well. I’ve had a regular shopping spree & have bought a hat! – & black & white check dress! Went to Welling this am & again driving the afternoon. Children have been very good – we’ve had a most enjoyable day. home via town at 10 to eight – left Doris at 6.30.

Week 8 : 21st February 1960 – 27th February 1960

Here’s what was going on in the world this week in 1960

• Sunday became a regular work day in all of Sudan, after the Muslim government in Khartoum decreed that Friday was the uniform day of rest for the entire nation. Previously, provinces in southern Sudan (which had a large Christian minority and a stronger British influence under the rule of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan) had Sunday as the day off, while northern Sudan had switched to Friday upon independence in 1956.
• André Previn made the first of 51 appearances at Carnegie Hall, playing George Gershwin’s ‘Piano Concerto in F’.
• The United States tested its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Launched from Cape Canaveral, the Titan missile traveled 5,000 miles and ejected a data capsule before crashing into the South Atlantic.
• Final approval was given by Pakistan’s President Ayub Khan for the construction of a new capital city on the site of the villages of Saidpur and Nurpur. The new city would be called Islamabad.
• After having fled to Syria, Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death in absentia by a court in Iraq, for his role in conspiring to kill Prime Minister Abdul Karim Qassim. Saddam returned to Iraq after Qassim’s assassination in 1963, and did not face a death sentence again until his execution on December 30, 2006.
• Adriano Olivetti, the Italian entrepreneur who built the Olivetti company into a leading manufacturer of office machines died aged 58.

And here’s what was keeping Peggy busy:

Sunday 21st February 1960
What a change – a lovely sunny day today – Poor Gillian is full of cold. It’s the first time we’ve seen her like this – nose running etc.  We gardened this afternoon – Daphne took Jill for a walk.

Monday 22nd February 1960
A filthy wet day & poor Gillian has fallen down the stairs! She was none the worse for it – two bumps on her forehead. Her cold is still with her – she slept for an hour on the sofa today.
Philip has been niggley too. All in all its been a day! We’re nearly out of fuel! – the boiler (wash) has gone for repair 

Tuesday 23rd February 1960
Not a very nice day again – Gillian’s cold seems to be improving. Cyril is doing some shopping for me in town so that we won’t have to go out. The ‘Warmco’ (smokeless coal) came this morning so that’s a load off my mind.  

Wednesday 24th February 1960
Another wet one. We’ve been round to the clinic but I didn’t take Phil out – we were home again by three o’clock – & they’re both having a good cry! No letters today. Bureau arrived today – we’ve spent an hour trying to find the best place for it. 

Thursday 25th February 1960
Raining! I’m glad we don’t have to go out today. The men are busy on our path now so Jill has something to look at! No letters for the second day running! Cyril brought home his biggest pay slip ever – Back pay!  

Friday 26th February 1960
Got cracking & went out this morning – just as well its rough & showery (now 2pm) Gillian has gone to sleep on the sofa & I’m going to fetch Phil in for his dinner. I’ve been preparing a pie for dinner tomorrow in case I go out. Princess Margaret engaged! 

Saturday 27th February 1960
Not a very happy day – I don’t know who is to blame – maybe me – maybe Cyril! Black Saturday – Cyril went to Esher this morning & I took Jill this afternoon to buy her some shoes & slippers. We got home about 4.30. Both Gillian & Philip played up this evening & wouldn’t settle. I’m struggling with my accounts.
Very bad night with Gillian – & Phil awake at 4.30am.

Week 7 : 14th February 1960 – 20th February 1960

Here’s what was going on in the world this week in 1960

• Field Marshal Muhammad Ayub Khan of Pakistan was confirmed as its President through a limited referendum that he had called as a test of his theory of “basic democracy”. The 80,000 village councilmen who had been elected locally were called upon to vote “yes” or “no” on Ayub’s continuance in office, and 75,283 of them voted in the affirmative.
• The United Kingdom signed a new treaty of protection with the Maldives, which had been a British protectorate since 1887. The Indian Ocean island group was granted independence in 1965.
• War threatened to break out between Israel and the Egypt (at that time partners with Syria in the United Arab Republic), after President Nasser received inaccurate information that Israeli troops were massing at Israel’s border with Syria. Nasser then sent a major portion of the Egyptian army to Israel’s border with Egypt. The two sides halted war preparations after discovering the misunderstanding, and both sides stood down on March 1.
• The United Kingdom and the United States jointly announced that a missile warning system would be constructed at the North York Moors in Yorkshire. Britain’s RAF Fylingdales would join stations at Thule AFB in Greenland, and Clear AFS in Alaska as the third and final station in BMEWS, the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System.
• The Chinese space program began its first step “in a long march toward outer space”, with the launch of the T-7 rocket. The missile, made entirely within the People’s Republic, only reached an altitude of five miles, but was a successful sub-orbital flight. China first put a satellite into space in 1970, and put a man into orbit in 2003.
• Prince Andrew, Duke of York, third child of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II was born.

And here’s what was keeping Peggy busy:

Oxshott Heath – The Sandpit

Sunday 14th February 1960
Weather is a bit better today – we’re lucky here judging by reports from other parts of the country – snow & ice in Midlands. We’ve been out in the woods this afternoon & I’ve had a bath – 7pm.

Monday 15th February 1960
Very cold but dry & sunny. We haven’t been out – Gillian from next door came in this afternoon & played with Jill – I did the ironing. Have prepared the fruit tonight for Phil’s christening cake. 

Tuesday 16th February 1960
Hilary Lemon (birthday)
Cold & sunny again – we’re very lucky with our weather judging by reports from various parts of the country. We’ve been to the village this afternoon. I seem to have caught Cyril’s cold – hope I don’t pass it on. Have made Phil’s christening cake today. 

Wednesday 17th February 1960
Another fine & sunny day – Cyril had a later start than usual as he is at Larkhill today – not home yet (8pm) – I’ve just finished ironing – all quiet upstairs. Philip has gained 12 1/2ozs over the last fortnight.

Thursday 18th February 1960
All agog today waiting for news of the Queen’s baby which is supposed to be “on the way”. Another cold, but sunny day. My cold is still heavy & I’ve had a shocking headache all day. We’ve been for a walk in the woods this afternoon. 

Friday 19th February 1960
I’ve lost my voice today – so I haven’t been able to shout at Gillian!!!!
We haven’t been out today – except into the garden so I’ve ironed this afternoon & cleaned the insides of all the windows. Baked tonight & I’m feeling pretty tired – was up at 5.30am 

Saturday 20th February 1960
Doris & Will for the day
A dirty wet day – We had a good night with the infants last night. Doris & Will arrived soon after 11.30 & we’ve enjoyed our day. Doris was thrilled with the baby – both he & Gillian have been very good – Jill was very tired though. They both missed their bath tonight
Doris & Will left just before seven.