Let’s Face The Music, Dance, Mug Up For FT Exams At Keele & Afterwards Go To Joshua Reynolds At The Royal Academy With Dad, March 1986

No, not a picture of Lisa Benjamin in 1986 – a portrait of Elizabeth Leveson-Gower, Duchess-Countess of Sutherland, by Joshua Reynolds, from 1786

Sunday 9 March 1986 – Earlyish start – went to Lisa [Benjamin]’s wedding + tea dance – went up to Keele after – quite tired + tipsy.

The Benjamin family and my family were close friends. I grew up with Lisa and her older sister Jane in our street, Woodfield Avenue. I don’t remember all that much about that particular wedding and I don’t suppose I did much of the dancing at the tea dance. It will have been a rather grown-up dancing affair, with embarrassing dad and mum dancing more to the fore than the sort of disco that might have floated my boat.

It seems I was using Keele as a sanctuary for exam-cramming. Petra was no doubt working hard for her first year law studies and we were possibly trying to encourage one another through studying jointly in this way. We both thrived with our studies that year, so I guess it did our studies no harm.

Monday 10 March 1986 – Worked pretty hard today at Keele – very tired + fraught. Had a fairly early night.

Tuesday 11 March 1986 – Worked hard again today at Keele – still tired + tense. Had nice meal in eve (late) etc.

Wednesday 12 March 1986 – Went into Union briefly in morning – saw people – left Keele at lunchtime – revised at home in evening.

Thursday 13 March 1986 – Accounts exam this morning – went relatively OK. Revised in afternoon + evening for QT [Quantitative Techniques].

Quantitative Techniques was almost exactly the same course as my Keele Subsidiary from four years earlier, known as Applied Statistics and Operational Research. But still it needed cramming, not least because of the effluxion of time between the two mini-courses.

Friday 14 March 1986 – QT exam this morning – had a few drinks after with people. Went to Royal Academy with dad in afternoon. Stayed in evening – very tired etc.

The Joshua Reynolds exhibition was a big deal that year and Dad was keen to see it between his retirement and the exhibition coming off.

Dad had invested a small proportion of his retirement savings in membership of the Royal Academy. I was allowed in with him as his guest.

Here are some reviews of the exhibition: in truth my memory does not serve me well about it.

Brian Sewell was characteristically sniffy about it.

Reynolds Sewell Standard 23 Jan 1986 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com