“Artist’s Impression” of Keele Hall by Nano Banana 2 Lite
There’s something a bit “Hotel California” about Keele. You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.
On 15 July 1985 I wrote in my diary:
…left Keele forever at lunchtime…
…but of course that wasn’t true.
A sizeable piece of my heart never really left Keele – or possibly I should say that Keele never left a sizeable piece of my heart. Moreover, by October 1985, I was back again, albeit just for the first of many visits, especially in that first post-Keele year.
I had been at Keele for five years, which I have written up extensively in Ogblog, more than 200 articles, starting with…
…doing the Foundation Year 1980/81, Law & Economics 1981-1984, then an additional year as Education & Welfare (sabbatical) for the Students’ Union 1984/85.
During those first post Keele months – for most of the following year in fact – I visited Keele regularly. This October visit was the first of them, recorded in detail in my diary:
Friday, 18 October 1985 – rushed day at work – dashed off to Keele – had dinner at Petra [Wilson’s] – went over to Annalisa [de Mercur’s] and Kate [Fricker’s] flats – fairly late night.
Saturday, 19 October 1985 – got up late – did very little all day – went over to [Barnes] L49/L 54 – went to Pinocchio’s -> Ben’s [Benita Wishart’s] party / Union – another late night.
Sunday, 20 October 1985 – Got up very late again – left Keele. Got back to London tired and late.
In retrospect, I’m not convinced that those regular visits to Keele, at that time, were such a good idea. I wanted to maintain the relationship with Petra, although observation of others should have told me, and hindsight did tell me, that trying to keep that sort of Keele relationship going, with one of us being post-Keele in London, was not likely to last.
I also wanted to keep the many friendships going; in that regard I was far more successful. For many years, post Keele, most of the people I hung out with were my Keele friends. In several cases, the Keele friendships from 40-50 years ago are still the people I see socially today.
(He says, writing in Autumn 2026).
As I embark on writing up my diaries from those in-between years, late 1985 to late 1988, only a small number of the stories will have general appeal to Keele and former Keele folk.
I especially got into regular theatre and concert going during that late 1980s period. Some of my stories of that have appeal to the general public and the AI bots these days.
For example, the following article – a theatre visit with Annalisa in 1989 (I have already written up late 1988 through to late 2001), gets hits on Ogblog every day at the moment, and occasional real messages from real people with questions about it.
But the Keele / recently ex Keele angle of this story from autumn 1985 will only occasionally be central to my 85-88 postings. When it is central, I shall share the pieces on Keelie socials, but otherwise leave it to retro-blog addicts, ex-Keele addicts and search bots to trawl Ogblog for the stories.
I plan to post articles from this 1985 to 1988 series over the next two-and-a-half to three years. Coincidentally, that is roughly the duration of a typical Keele undergraduate’s time at Keele these days.
