1985 Summer Ball image with grateful thanks to Andrew Macmillan
In many ways the things unsaid in my personal diary entries for that Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday are more interesting than the things said.
Allow me to transliterate those three days for you:
Tuesday 25 June 1985 – busy day – shopped – Ringroad rehearsal – popped over to Kate’s – had dinner – went to Pop Quiz – got drunk – Petra came over.
Wednesday 26th June 1985 – meetings etc – quite busy – dinner – Ball (including weak Ringroad!) – left about 2:30 am.
Thursday 27 June 1985 – meetings etc went to WPAR [if someone remembers what that was, please let me know] – hospital – cooked dinner – Ring wrote summer review – went down very well.
My appointments diary for the Tuesday shows that I had fully intended to play the festival week cricket match for the fourth year running, but became quite inundated with requests for meetings and gave up on the idea of one last go at the cricket.
Those readers who missed out on my Keele cricket (so-called) career can catch up with it through this King Cricket piece authored by Herbert Ackgrass with me appearing pseudonymously as Ged Ladd. It takes some gall to have one of your noms de plume write about another of your noms de plume, so clearly I have some gall:
The fact that we had a last-minute rescheduled Ringroad rehearsal suggest to me that the Ringroad show we performed at the Ball, which I described as weak, was a last minute idea, perhaps to fill a gap in the Ball schedule. We had a long-planned Summer Revue the next day and I think we needed to dredge the bottom of the Ringroad cornflake box of scripts to come up with a second show in as many days that wasn’t going to overlap.
I don’t remember much about the pop quiz on the Tuesday, but as I state that I “got drunk” rather than “won”, or “did well”, I think you can draw your own conclusions.
Frankly, I remembered little about the Summer Ball too. It is only fair to say that John White’s memory did no better. Interesting also that I didn’t note the names of the bands we saw – not even the headliners (Darts).
So I am truly grateful to Andrew Macmillan for supplying the headline image which helped bring back the memories.
One reason that I would not have thought Darts that exciting a pick is that I had seen them at an SU ball early in my Keele career. No doubt Pady chose them precisely because only a handful of us would have seen them at the Valentines Ball in 1981 – written up in this piece:
You can hear/see some Darts in the above 1981 write up, but if that’s not enough for you, here’s another embedded video of that retro group. They were seriously retro, even when at their peak in the 1970s:
More interesting perhaps were the support acts. I remember being less impressed by The Higsons than I was by The Untouchables, but enjoying the sound of both.
The Untouchables were very much “John’s and my sort of thing”, with their Mod/Ska revival sound. I wonder whether Pady [Jalali] chose them for our last hurrah deliberately to please us. Forty years on, John [White] and I can ask Pady that question when we all meet up in late July.
I particularly remember liking The Untouchables version of a Northern Soul classic, I Spy For The FBI:
I love the parting remark in my diary, “left about 2:30 a.m.”.
And I had SO many meetings the next day, and THE Ringroad Summer Revue to perform. Did I make it?
Of course I did.
Perhaps WPAR is something to do with “womens group”, but I’m still none the wiser
Not only did I do all of that on the Thursday, but my diary reports that Petra and I visited recently run-over Ruth in hospital in amongst all of that too. I’m getting hot and bothered just thinking about it.
Some years ago I wrote up that Summer Ringroad Revue, my final Ringroad performance, including an audio recording of that show – here’s that write up:
Bamber Gascoigne, image use permitted by the National Portrait Gallery
My diary entries for 19 June 1985 barely tell the story. I’d had a busy day of meetings, but the day was supposed to end in an enjoyable fashion, as Petra and I had been invited to an Overseas Students Reception in the Keele Hall Salvin Room, which we planned to follow up with a party/disco in less salubrious Lindsay – probably the Hexagon.
Well posh, the Salvin Room, this image borrowed from the Keele archiveWell posh, Keele Hall, as seen from the lakes
I remember a very relaxed atmosphere at the party – I knew many of the overseas students well from my Education & Welfare activities.
About an hour into the party – I’ll never forget this – Petra suddenly seemed very anxious and said:
I’ve got to go. Something’s wrong. I need to go back to my room.
I went with her, really not understanding her vexation. I don’t suppose she understood it at that moment. We soon got back to Petra’s Horwood block, H if I recall correctly, where one or two people were looking for her. Word had reached the block that Ruth had been run over by a car in town. Ruth was in A&E at North Staffs Royal Infirmary and had been asking for Petra.
I don’t much believe in extra sensory perception – I certainly don’t understand it -and am sceptical about the way that some people profess to have it – but for sure Petra profoundly sensed something that evening in Keele Hall.
Anyway, we jumped into Petra’s car and headed for the hospital.
The staff at the hospital were very nice to us. They explained to us that Ruth had suffered some significant fractures and that there was a fair bit of superficial injury to her face which looked worse than it was. Would we like to go in to the observation ward now?
Petra said yes. Squeamish back then as indeed I am now, I said that I would hold back for the time being.
Two or three minutes later, one of the nurses came out to inform me that Petra had fainted at the sight of Ruth and was recovering on a spare bed in the observation ward. Would I like to go in and see the pair of them?
Do you have another spare bed in there?
I asked, instinctively. Perhaps it was the wrong moment for comedy, but there was also veracity in my question.
Actually I did go in to the ward and understood why the events of the preceding hour or so, not least “the big reveal” of entering that small ward, had been so upsetting for Petra. She was a very close friend to Ruth and they are still very much in touch with one another, as I understand it, 40 years on.
My diary entries for the following few weeks have daily visits to see Ruth, apart from a few days when Petra and I were apart (when Petra would have visited without me) or when Petra and I were away from North Staffs together.
Wednesday, 19 June 1985 office – union committee meetings – overseas student reception – heard Ruth had been run over – went to hospital – got back late.
Thursday, 20 June 1985 – Rose early Leisuregames lunch – then went around with Petra to hospital etc – dinner after.
Friday 21 June 1985 – busy sorting out things for Ruth with Petra etc. Had Chinese meal at Hanley Garden.
Saturday, 22 June 1985 – got up quite early. Went home to visit mum and dad.
Sunday, 23 June 1985 – moved belongings around – had lunch. Left [for Keele] quite early – had dinner – Petra came over.
Monday 24 June 1985 – Rose quite late – did university challenge heat (compere) – had dinner with Petra and Ruth’s mum.
Gosh, yes, I remember being “Keele’s very own Bamber Gascoigne, just for one day”, doing the University Challenge teams selection heats in the ballroom that Monday. It was one of the first activities in Festival Week that year and I took the job of compering it very seriously.
The 1982 team – my contemporaries I suppose – picture borrowed from the Keele Archive
I especially remember all the effort I put in on the preceding days, including the couple of days I spent visiting my parents, going through the huge wad of questions that the Granada TV people had sent through to help with those heats. I tried to select collections of questions that I thought would be fairest and best help separate the Keele quizzing wheat from the Keele quizzing chaff.
I must admit I find it hard to think about University Challenge “in our day” without thinking of The Young Ones episode in which the anarchic quartet from Scumbag College take on a bunch of infeasibly posh students from Footlights College Oxbridge. Here’s a link to that episode on BBC iPlayer – you know you want to peek at it.
In the next episode of this forty years on series, I’ll be writing up, amongst other things, the Students’ Union Summer Ball, which took place a couple of days after the University Challenge heats. I need your help, dear readers…
…SO…
…fingers on buzzers and no conferring, here is your starter for 10:
Which act headlined at the Keele Students’ Union Ball on 26 June 1985?
And, your bonus questions for five points each:
Name the support acts…
…(Ringroad doesn’t count as a support act).
Answers in the comments or by private message please.
With thanks to Mark Ellicott, who captured the historic moment at which I symbolically handed the keys to the Education & Welfare Office to Hayward Burt.
10 June 1985 was the day of the last UGM of the academic year and the official end of my sabbatical year of office as Education & Welfare officer. Not that the official ending seemed to reduce the number of meetings and things I attended for the next few weeks. We sabbaticals in particular undertook quite a substantial “handover”, which we hadn’t received with such gusto from our predecessors but which we felt we should do for our successors.
My appointments diary tells a slightly maudlin tale, with the entry “UGM, The End” on that day:
My personal diary sort-of covered the day…
Monday 10 June 1985 – last day officially in office – did little – “union committee meeting” for awhile – then somewhat chaotic last UG M – drink after etc. Very late night.
…although it failed to mention that I was awarded life membership of the Keele Students’ Union at that UGM. I was given a card the following day to prove it. Very proud of that card I am, such that I carried it around with me at all times for years. It now looks like this:
Like my face, my life membership card has seen better days. 40 years is a long time.
I always knew I had something in common with Nelson Mandela, but in truth had forgotten, until I found this article in the Sentinel while looking for something else, that Nelson & I both had life membership of UKSU conferred upon us that night:
Here’s the text from my personal diary for the next week or so:
Tuesday, 11 June 1985 – Rose late – residential services in afternoon etc – had dinner with Petra.
Wednesday, 12 June 1985 – busy day – meetings etc – celebrated after Senate – had dinner with Petra.
Thursday, 13 June 1985 – meetings – in office most of the day – had an easy evening [Strangely, the appointments diary says that I did the Bust Fund Disco that night. I expect the appointments diary is right and the memory at the time I wrote up that week was wrong.
Friday, 14 June 1985 – meetings, office etc. Cooked dinner for Petra, Ruth and [Graham] Pitt.
Saturday, 15 June 1985 – lazyish day – shopped etc – popped over to Pitt’s – went to Jackie Wong’s for dinner.
Sunday, 16 June 1985 – Rose late/lazy day –brekker etc. Cooked Petra dinner later.
Monday, 17 June 1985 – went to Derbyshire for day with June – peak/picnic etc. dinner. Got back late – Petra came round after.
I have very happy memories of the day June Aitken (the Keele Student’s Union administrator extraordinaire) took us outgoing sabbaticals (me, Kate, John & Pady) to the Peak District, for a day of picnicking and walking.
It was a truly special and memorable day – I am so irritated that I didn’t take a camera and a roll of film that day. I fell in love with the Peak District that day and visited it many times since – especially in the late 1980s and early 1990s – the following photo from 1990:
Tuesday, 18 June 1985 – meetings etc – Ringroad rehearsal – Petra cooked dinner later.
The next day…something significant happened. I’ll write up that story and its aftermath next time.
My appointments diary remained ridiculously full of meetings right up until my term of office ended…and indeed for a while after it ended doing handover.
Sample from the appointments diary.
This article covers the two weeks ahead of the final day of our term of office.
Tuesday 28 May 1985 – rushed today with interviews, meetings etc etc. Cooked Petra some food in evening.
Wednesday. 29 May 1985 – busy in meetings all day – worked late. Cooked Annalisa a meal in evening.
Thursday, 30 May 1985 meetings all day – including NUPE over staff. Petra [cooked me a] meal in evening.
Friday 31 May 1985 – very busy day – hassled etc. Made Petra a meal late.
Saturday one June 1985 – Rose fairly early – went shopping (proper). Worked after. Cooked Petra meal
Sunday to June 1985 – Rose quite early – went to office for most of day – saw Petra later.
The question of who cooked whom dinner seems to have been my main personal diary concern that week.
Coincidentally, forty years on, Janie is cooking a pork stroganoff this evening of a very similar specification to the “strog” I used to cook back then. Obviously ingredients such as “shitake mushrooms” hadn’t been invented in 1985 and “three kinds of mustard” is at least two kinds more than I would have mustered back then, but still. We have no pictures of the food from 1985, as taking pictures of food hadn’t been invented. So here is a picture of the 2025 strog in the making:
Digression over – let’s move on to week two.
OK, I’ve heard you – you can’t read that diary page. Here’s a transcript:
Monday, 3 June 1985 – rushed today – meetings etc. Constitutional committee etc in evening – got back quite late.
Tuesday 4 June 1985 – choc-a-block today – meetings etc till late – cooked Petra a late meal.
Wednesday, 5 June 1985 – busy day – Union Committee, Ringroad meeting. Easyish evening at home – Petra came over.
Thursday, 6 June 1985 – worked hard & late today – Petra exams – made her grub – early night.
Friday, 7 June 1985 – busy day in office – not feeling too good. Cooked Petra meal in evening – stayed in.
Saturday, 8 June 1985 – lazy day – rose late – went shopping – had theatre supper around Having A Ball – very nice evening.
Sunday, 9 June 1985 – got up late had breakfast went to office for a while. Went to Kate’s for dinner.
Ah yes, Having A Ball at the Theatre Royal Hanley.
I’m glad that Petra and I had a pleasant evening. My memory of the play & production itself was of a very corny comedy, which was, in truth, not to my taste. Nor Petra’s, I should imagine, but we clearly enjoyed the “end of exams/end of tough week” escapism of it. I do especially remember thinking that the “having a ball” pun about being in a vasectomy clinic started to grind very quickly and was used far too many times.
I wonder if I might find a review of the production we saw…
…yup, from Newcastle a few days later. The critic’s view from 1985 concurs with my memory forty years on:
With thanks to cartoonist Paul Wood and Private Eye for their kind permission to use Paul’s image, published in Eye Issue 1636, November 2024.
When I spotted the above cartoon in Private Eye, it brought back a flood of memories about the conception, in Autumn 1984, of the publication that we named “Sexplanations”.
The unfunny part of this story is the running battle I was facing, as Education & Welfare Officer, with those pockets of Keele culture that did not want any information on “Birth Control and Related Issues” displayed and distributed by my office in the Students’ Union. My predecessor had bowed to the pressure of objections to information leaflets on the topic by abstaining from displaying any. I felt it was vitally important to provide information to students and was prepared to take on the issue.
My attempted compromise with the naysayers was to display the better of the supposedly controversial third party leaflets on a promise that I would produce our own Keele SU document that would aim to be suitably balanced in its perspective.
I made an early decision to pepper the booklet with cartoons, as part of my attempt to make the booklet readable and engaging enough to encourage wide readership. I had (indeed still have in a yellowing file) a small collection of Private Eye cartoons that I had torn out of my subscription copies of Private Eye when I saw a picture I enjoyed. Once the booklet had been conceived, I particularly sought out relevant cartoons from the pages of Eye.
The handful of mentions in my diary during the gestation of this booklet refer to it as the “birth control” leaflet. But the medical advisors I consulted, both in the local health authority and the Keele Health Centre, persuaded me quite early to broaden the scope and include information about sexually transmitted infections as well, which we did.
I recall that June Aitken (senior admin assistant) reported to me that Joan was in tears trying to type this document for me. I wondered whether Joan was finding the material embarrassing or difficult.
“Oh no”, said June, “she just so wants to do a good job for you, but cannot read your blithering handwriting, duck”.
The irony of my medically-oriented draft leaflet being illegible is not wasted on me. Sorry, again, Joan! June undertook to help Joan with the draft and of course the resulting document was very well typed and set in the end.
Petra Wilson and Jean Mackay, who were both on my welfare committee, were my main content assistants on this publication and did a terrific job on it. (I wonder what became of Jean? Petra – do you know?).
I recall a meeting (probably quite close to publication day) when we were to choose the name. I came up with the pun, Sexplanations, which none of us really liked, but none of us could think of anything better – i.e. suitably descriptive, catchy and suggesting that their might be some humorous as well as informative content.
Forty years on, I still don’t really like the title Sexplanations and still cannot think of a more suitable one.
Meanwhile, controversy continued to rear its ugly head in the union around such topics, as this snippet from May 1985 Concourse attests, in the matter of Life posters, which I permitted the “Life lot” to put up, but wouldn’t police for them in a “die on a hill” manner. I mean, dying on a hill would have been against their sanctity of life principles, wouldn’t it?
By the beginning of June, it really was time to induce the birth of Sexplanations, don’t you think?
I believe the publication was a success. They certainly went like hot cakes during the few weeks that I remained at Keele post publication – my term of office was very close to its end when the booklet came out. I don’t think it was ever going really to please the naysayers, as their perception of balanced writing on this topic was somewhat at variance with mine.
Just one more strange memory about this topic – i.e. the aftermath of Sexplanations coming out.
Whether the spikey condom (unused) that awaited me under the door on arrival at my office on the morning after the publication was from the naysayers or a random prankster we’ll never know. Petra and I wondered at the time whether it might even have been a late contribution towards our research. Fortunately, further research of that kind would have been pointless post publication.
Anyone out there care to confess to having deposited said “gift”?
Sunday, 12 May 1985 – nice day. Rose late had “breakfast” – came to office late afternoon worked here and at home. Petra came over later.
Years later I discovered that there is a well-known term for the Sunday meal I described as “breakfast”… brunch. I cannot remember what I would prepare for such a meal but it probably bore more than a passing resemblance to an English breakfast.
Monday 13 May 1985 – busy day today – meetings etc. Cooked Petra meal in evening.
Tuesday, 14 May 1985 – union committee and meetings all day (including staff meeting). Petra cooked me a meal in evening.
15 May 1985 – busy day. Senate in afternoon. Long Ringroad rehearsal.
Thursday, 16 May 1985 – went to [magistrates] court in morning – meetings all afternoon – J-Soc early evening – Ringroad performance in the evening.
Friday, 17 May 1985 – busy day on birth control – committees et cetera. Very tired after. Shopped – cooked Petra meal.
Saturday, 18 May 1985 – road quite late – Kate [Fricker] came over to work on grievance/discipline [procedures]– Petra cooked us a meal in evening.
…Kate and I were determined to try and help leave behind a better set of grievance and disciplinary procedures than those we had inherited when we came into office.
Sunday, 19 May 1985 – Rose quite late – had breakfast. Did some work in office – Petra came over later.
Monday, 20 May 1985 – hard day in office – UGM in evening (so so) – Petra came over.
I cannot remember what was happening at our penultimate UGM to make it “so-so”. But I have discovered the following snippet from Concourse which made me laugh. Around that time, it became public knowledge that Princess Margaret was going to give up the Chancellorship of Keele. Concourse asked a few of us to suggest a suitable replacement.
I still think that Bugs Bunny would be a great choice.
I have subsequently found the first three quotes from that article – John’s mine and Hayward’s, were picked up by the Evening Sentinel:
Tuesday 21 May. 1985 – busy day – meetings etc. Did Bust Fund Disco in evening – Petra came over later.
The Bust Fund Disco will have been with John White – click picture link below for example playlist.
Wednesday, 22 May 1985 – rushed with meetings. Birth control [leaflet] etc. Cooked Petra meal in evening.
By this stage, the publication, which we named Sexplanations, perhaps even on that very day, had become more than just birth control. I remember that Jean Mackay was especially helpful with the editing of that document at the end. I’ll write some more about the publication of it in a subsequent episode very soon.
Thursday, 23 May 1985 – rushed with meetings and stuff – OSS [Overseas Students Society]meeting in evening – Petra came over later.
Friday, 24 May 1985 – busy day in office – went rebate etc. Cooked Petra [a meal] in evening – went to jazz night etc.
Not sure what “rebate” was about, but Hayward Burt was involved and there was some sort of finance committee meeting that day.
Saturday 25 May 1985 – rose quite early – shopped – did some work – cooked Petra dinner in evening.
Sunday 26 May 1985 – fairly lazy day – breakfast – did some work – Petra came over later.
Monday 27 May 1985 – took morning off – went to Barlaston – worked thereafter. Petra came over later.
Barlaston Hall in 2008
I think Barlaston Hall was a crumbling ruin still in 1985, mired in controversy over the project to restore the place that was supposed to be completed in the mid 1980s but…
That visit would almost certainly have been Petra’s idea rather than mine, but I’m sure we both had a splendid time. I suspect that I was in a deadline frenzy over completing the Sexplanations booklet on time, while Petra was on a mission to reduce my writing/editing excess on a Bank Holiday Monday.
Judging by my diary, I spent most of my time at the start of Keele’s summer term 1985 cooking meals for Petra Wilson (or occasionally being cooked a meal by her), or sitting through interminable meetings, as was my wont as SU Education & Welfare Officer.
Although, if the Concourse and Geordie mag wags are anything to go by, I must have been generating huge quantities of verbiage in the publicity circular and the like, as well as crafting my magnum opus, Sexplanations. I also was spending time rehearsing the new improved Ringroad with the enhanced team, including Dave Griffiths, John Bowen & Warwick Cairns – more on those topics to come soon.
This article is covering a dull-sounding period at the start of term in all of its exquisite diary dullness. It livens up as the piece goes on…honest.
Monday 22 April 1985 – Busy day in the office – interviews and What Subsid. Worked late – had early night.
Tuesday 23 April 1985 – More interviews today etc. Got quite a lot done – earlyish night – Petra came back [to Keele] in middle of the night.
Wednesday 24 April 1985 – Early start – meetings etc today. Cooked Petra dinner in evening.
Thursday, 25 April 1985 – Busy day with meetings and interviews etc – early night tonight.
Friday 26 April 1985 – Rushed day with Union Committee Meeting etc. Petra came round later.
Saturday 27 April 1985 – Rose late – went into town late – ran around the shops etc. Cooked Petra dinner in evening.
Sunday 28 April 1985 – Rose late – did some work later on – saw Petra for a while later.
One of the union cleaners, Kitty, retired around that time, so I suspect those interviews were about replacing her. I was busy researching Sexplanations and for sure I spoke with lots of medical people about that, but I don’t think in those days I would have called such research meetings interviews – for those I tended to write the name of the hospital or medical practice I visited.
For sure we launched Wot Subsid 1985-87 at the start of that term.
And the more I think about it, the more I think I should publish a collection of my Keele recipes in a booklet entitled “Wot Subsist”, for students everywhere henceforward.
In truth, boiled beef and carrots would not have tended to appear on my menu. I would occasionally cook beef for Petra but she preferred lighter fare – mostly chicken or fish – sometimes pork. Not spicy food (although I did have a canon of spicy dishes for others). Mild creamy sauces, for sure. If I were to cook beef it would be Chinese style – normally stir fry – although I had already cultivated a wicked Guangzhou style brisket of beef cooked in a “to die for” stock. I suppose that is sort-of boiled beef.
Monday 29 April 1985 – Worked quite hard today – got quite a bit done. Petra cooked meal in evening.
Tuesday 30 April 1985 – Rushed and busy today with meetings etc – Petra came round later.
Wednesday 1 May 1985 – Very busy day with meetings till late etc – Petra came round after.
Thursday 2 May 1985 – Got quite a bit done today as meetings were cancelled etc. Petra came around later.
Friday, 3 May 1985 – Busy day in office today – lots of hassle in afternoon. Shopped and went pictures (A Private Function) then Petra cooked meal.
Saturday 4 May 1985 – Did very little today. Rose late etc and cooked Petra dinner in evening.
Sunday, 5 April 1985 – Didn’t get up till late – did a little work in the evening and popped over to L54 briefly.
Ah, A Private Function. I remember that movie – about a chiropodist rearing a pig for a party:
Who’d have thought that, within 10 years, I’d be mixed up with a chiropodist, Janie, throwing a pig party. Trigger warning on the album that follows – some of the pictures are seriously piggy and I don’t mean the Janie & Phillie picture on the cover:
But I digress.
As for visiting Barnes L54, that had been “my flat” for two years: 82/83 and 83/84:
Still there in 84/85 was Alan Gorman, who the only one who had been there throughout my time in that flat. Also Chris Spencer, who had been there for most of the time I was in that flat, plus Pete Wild who joined us in 83/84. Hayward Burt had taken my place…quite literally:
Oy, Hayward. That’s MY seat.
Monday 6 May 1985 – Worked hard despite bank holiday – cooked Petra meal in evening.
Tuesday, 7 May 1985 – Busy day with Union Committee morning, meetings etc till late. International Affairs – drank after until quite late and then went to see Petra.
Wednesday, 8 May 1985 – Hard day in office – Welfare Committee etc. Ringroad rehearsal in the evening – went well – went to see Petra after.
Thursday, 9 May 1985 – Busy day in office with enquiries etc. Busy evening – met Vice Chancellor [new VC was Brian Fender] – Union Committee meeting and Shirley and Kitty’s party. Went over to Petra’s after briefly – came back later.
Friday 10 May 1985 – Busy day in office – rushed off feet – especially in the afternoon. Went to theatre to see The Nerd and cooked Petra meal after.
I remember that we called Brian Fender “Uncle Fester” in those early days.
Jackie Coogan playing the role of Brian Fender…I mean Uncle Fester
Shirley & Kitty’s party got a whole page in Concourse that month. But surely the most newsworthy element, forty years on, is John White’s mop top hair and tank top garment.
JOHN – WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?
As for The Nerd, I remembered little about it until I looked it up. Clearly this production went on to Coventry after Stoke:
We saw it at the Hanley Theatre Royal. I remember being pleased that I had seen Jasper Carrott perform live but not thinking too much of the show. The Evening Sentinel slammed it in a way that only the Sentinel could:
Having run myself down in the early spring of 1985, doing the Keele Students’ Union sabbatical thing, I took a bit of a break during the Easter holidays and then returned to Keele for a relatively calm period before the storm of my final term.
“Holy Week” & Passover Resting/Convalescing At My Parents House
Of course Holy Week had no meaning in my family, but the week or so in question was the run up to Easter and the Easter weekend. It coincided with Pesach (Passover) that year.
Monday 1 April 1985 – Lazy day – went shops – stayed in mainly taping, reading and feeling low.
Tuesday to April 1985 – Lazy day in – taped, read etc – feeling grotty and lazy. Stayed in evening also.
Strangely, although the diary is silent on this matter, I very clearly remember reading Something Happened by Joseph Heller during that particular Easter break. It didn’t cheer me up, but I remember finding the book jaw-droppingly good. I had loved Catch 22 and had not expected to be that impressed by Heller’s so-called difficult second novel. Something Happened is a much under-rated classic in my opinion, but I digress.
Wednesday 3 April 1985 – Went to town [West End of London] today – went Newman Harris & Co – Caroline [Freeman, now Curtis] for lunch – shopped etc. Lazy evening in.
Thursday 4 April 1985 – Went to Edwina [Green, doctor] in morning. Went to Dad’s shop in the afternoon and had an easy evening in.
Friday, 5 April 1985 – Did little today – went for a [traditional bank holiday, with Dad] walk etc. Had a nice dinner and watched TV etc. – lazy day.
Saturday, 6 April 1985 – Easy day – did some taping etc – went to seder that evening with Grandma Jenny. Very pleasant evening.
Sunday 7 April 1985 – Lazy day – nice lunch – went to Briegals [Jacquie, Len, Hilary & Mark] afternoon and evening – had a nice time there.
Monday, 8 April 1985 – rose quite late. Had a nice lunch. Went to Auntie Frances [Harris] in the afternoon. Lazy evening in on phone and in front of box.
No doubt Angela, Vivienne & John (Kessler) will also have been there – this picture is of the former two a few years earlier in Auntie Frances’s flat:
Returning To Keele & Preparing For The New Term
Tuesday, 9 April 1985 – rose quite early – Winfred [May – neighbour & Mum’s friend] came over for lunch. Petra [Wilson] came over – returned to Keele – had dinner and early night.
That will have been the first time that my parents encountered Petra. I recall that dad was quite taken with her and that mum didn’t have a clue that we were going out with each other, probably because mum was so weird still about that sort of thing. Mum – I was 22 years old FFS.
Wednesday 10 April 1985 – rose late – lazed around. Went shopping in afternoon. Met Ashley [Fletcher] had a drink and stayed in. Lazy evening.
Thank goodness. Another Ashley mention to keep Ashley happy.
Thursday, 11 April 1985 – rose early – Union Committee in morning – lazy afternoon – went to union. Had a drink with John [White] in evening and then home for dinner, etc.
Friday, 12 April 1985 – Lazy-ish morning. Rose late. Had lunch – went SC – busy afternoon and evening – had nice meal etc.
If any of you Keele alum detectives can fathom what SC means in this context, please help me out. I am clueless.
Saturday 13 April 1985 – rose quite early went to Chester for the day – lunch – Toy Museum – drinks etc. Stayed in evening had a nice dinner etc.
I do remember an enjoyable day trip to Chester with petra, but I don’t in truth remember the Toy Museum there. Perhaps the place wasn’t all that memorable as it permanently closed down some years ago, as I write 40 years on.
Sunday, 14 April 1985 – Rose quite late had nice food went for a walk, etc. Big meal in the evening – did little. Nice day.
Monday 15 April 1985 – More or less worked all day – sorted some things out. Petra and I went for a very nice walk after. Lovely evening.
Tuesday, 16 April 1985 – Took day off – went Mainwaring. Shops – did some work etc. Ashley popped in. Lazy evening very pleasant.
Don’t panic – The Mainwaring Arms is still there in Whitmore.
I don’t find it extraordinary that my mood was clearly much better when recuperating at Keele in Petra’s company, compared with convalescing at my parents’ place. But what I do find interesting is how clearly the changed emotions ring out (and how well my memory can be triggered forty years later) by so few words in my diary entries.
Wednesday, 17 April 1985 – Easyish day in office – union committee morning – Petra went home – easy evening – walked with Annalisa early eve, stayed in evening, early night.
Thursday, 18 April 1985 – Fairly light day in office today – did a little work in the evening. Ashley and Co came around – cooked them a meal etc.
Friday, 19 April 1985 – Busyish day at work getting odds and ends done. Went over to Kate’s in the evening – got drunk and stayed late.
Saturday 20th of April 1985 – Rose late – shopped with Kate – did a little work and then did disco [with John White] in evening.
Sunday 21 April 1985 – Stayed in most of the day – saw Kate and Annalisa for a while and did work on birth control leaflet.
I really must get around to putting up some more “John & Ian Disco Playlists” after the success of the Bust Fund Disco one. Watch this space.
Interesting that, in April, I was still referring to the publication that became “Sexplanations” as a birth control leaflet, as it became more than that between April and its publication in June. Watch this space for that too.
The Keele Day Nursery, Spring 1985, reimagined with the help of DeepAI
There was a lot going on in the Students’ Union and University life in the first half of March that year. Add to that the fact that Petra got some sort of lurgy that landed her in the health centre and I was intermittently poorly too. My diary entries are not exactly upbeat but they are revealing.
Monday, 4 March 1985 – busy day – got some work done – FP [family planning] meeting in the afternoon. Constitutional committee in evening – Petra came over.
The family planning meeting was with Dr Anne Pedrazzini, who was a big cheese in the North Staffordshire family planning world at that time. This was the first of several research meetings that led to my magnum opus, Sexplanations. More on that publication once the ideas conceived in March gestated and came to term…the following term.
Tuesday, 5 March 1985 – union committee in morning – busy day. Did Bust Fund disco in evening – Petra came round after.
Wednesday, 6 March 1985 – meetings etc. all day. Had a relatively easy evening and early night for once.
Thursday, 7 March 1985 – busy day with meetings etc. all day – cooked Petra a meal in evening – nice, stayed.
Friday, 8 March 1985 – went to DHSS in morning. Busy day – social secretary election and big fuss in evening – went Kate’s briefly in evening – not feeling too good left early and slept well.
I think the DHSS meeting was also connected with research for the nascent idea that became Sexplanations. I don’t recall what the big fuss was over the Social Secretary election that Friday. I was a veteran of big fusses over elections by 1985, especially, it seems, on days when I wasn’t feeling well. The story linked here and below, from two years earlier, is my best story about such an evening:
The March 1985 Social Secretary shenanigans was probably a mere bagatelle compared with the golden era of election shenanigans.
Saturday, 9 March 1985 – shopped etc. today and worked all day in office. Went to Nigerian do for awhile – Petra came over later.
Those Nigerian community events were great fun. I’d got to know that community well the year before my sabbatical. There was a fair smattering of Cameroonian students who also “qualified” and tended to hang with that crowd, so “West African” might be a more accurate description of the events. The parties were lively; there was always music and dancing aplenty.
No doubt some seriously funky Fela Kuti music formed part of the scene. The following clip will give you an idea of the Fela Kuti vibe at that time:
Sunday, 10 March 1985 – Rose late. Busy day working today in office etc. Worked till late – stayed at Petra’s.
I was working hard and playing hard that year – no wonder I was poorly a fair bit of the time. I’m feeling a bit run down right now, just thinking about all that activity and typing about it.
Ronnie Frankenberg & The Day Nursery Crisis
Monday, 11 March 1985 – busy day with meetings all day – Petra in Health Centre – UGM in evening – didn’t go too well.
Tuesday, 12 March 1985 – busy all day – union committee and Reading folk up for the day. Day Nursery, hustings, RingRoad rehearsal in the evening. Also visited Petra in evening.
I don’t in truth remember the visit from the Reading folk, but I do very clearly remember the Day Nursery crisis.
As Education & Welfare Officer, I was, ex officio, a Trustee of the Keele Day Nursery, which was a small, non-profit organisation, existing solely to provide day nursery facilities for toddlers of staff and students alike. The Chair of the Day Nursery was Professor Ronnie Frankenberg, a wonderful fellow who had been the initiating energy behind Keele’s highly-regarded Sociology & Social Anthropology department. Here is a link to his Guardian obituary from 2016.
The day nursery crisis was caused by an outbreak of pregnancy among several of the handful of nursery nurses who operated the day nursery. I can’t remember how many staff we had (not many), but the team was sufficiently small that having two or three on maternity leave at the same time was going to generate a hugely problematic shortfall of staff. Even in those days, there were strict staff to toddler ratios and it was proving prohibitively expensive to cover multiple maternity leave periods with temporary, qualified staff.
I remember Ronnie making a genuinely interesting and hugely informative speech at the meeting – quite a long speech – explaining the sociological… or perhaps I should say anthropological… phenomena, making it surprisingly likely that a day nursery might be blighted with such “outbreaks” of pregnancy by several members of the team around the same time. Psychological factors, social factors, cultural factors and even biological factors all come into play, we learnt. It was like a mini Foundation Year lecture. I almost found myself making notes and thinking up a really good question for the Q&A at the end of the lecture.
But in reality, my mind was juggling the engrossing complexity behind the causes of our problem with the practical realities that the tiny trust’s coffers were emptying at an alarming and unstoppable rate.
As Ronnie’s extrapolation wound down, I interjected by saying, “this is all absolutely fascinating, Ronnie, but where are we going to find the money to cover the additional costs?” My comment raised a laugh and also refocussed the meeting. I can’t remember what fundraising ideas we came up with, but I suspect that they only partially solved the money problem. A begging bowl in Registrar David Cohen’s direction probably helped to make up the remainder of the shortfall.
That is my favourite (but not only) memory of Ronnie Frankenberg…which is, by the way, pronounced “Ron-knee Frank-en-berg”:
Joking apart, my memory of Ronnie Frankenberg is that he was not only a very impressive Professor in his field, but also an extremely likeable and decent man.
Wednesday 13 March 1985 – loads of meetings all day (including Senate). RingRoad rehearsal. Petra came over after.
Thursday, 14 March 1985 – busyish day – followed by rehearsal and performance of RingRoad – went well. Petra came over after.
Friday 15 March 1985 – horrid mood today – E&W election – v worried – Hayward [Burt] won – hooray – cooked Petra dinner and she stayed.
Me and Hayward
I have no idea why I was so worried about Hayward’s chances in the Education & Welfare election for 1985/86. Presumably there was a candidate competing with him who I thought might win and then undo a lot of the initiatives I had been working towards. While Hayward and I did not see eye to eye politically on all issues, I basically saw Hayward as “one of the good guys”, who would work hard and build on many of the things I was trying to achieve. Indeed I’m sure he did.
Saturday, 16 March 1985 – got up quite early cooked Petra lunch and took her to the station. Had a very early night.
Sunday, 17 March 1985 – Rose quite early – pottered around – cooked Kate lunch – had a lazy day. Had another early night.
Someone sneakily added some unrepeatable graffiti in my appointments diary about that Sunday lunch with Kate. The graffiti is in Petra’s handwriting. I don’t think I could have spotted it at the time – otherwise I’d doubtless have scratched it out – so I suspect that the outrageous mock-diary-entry has sat there, previously unread, for forty years. I must admit it made me smile out loud, all these years later. Private requests only for a copy of that note. Young people, honestly!
Monday, 18 March 1985 – went doctors etc in morning – rather an unproductive day. Ruth and Jackie [Wong] came over – had earlyish night.
Ruth and Jackie were both friends/neighbours of Petra. Lovely lasses, both. I wonder whether Petra is still in touch with either of them?
Tuesday, 19 March 1985 – union committee in morning. Last day of term – hassle over disciplinary hearing etc. Had some wine – earlyish night.
Wednesday, 20 March 1985 – Pady and I took a day off – shopped and cooked meal for Crawfy’s [Andy Crawford’s] birthday. All got drunk.
Me, Pady & Crawfy. As usual, thanks to mark Ellicott for the lovely picture.
Oh dear, that last line: “All got drunk.” Well, I suppose it was the end of term.
While Students’ Union events, gigs and discos were my staple during my sabbatical year, I found myself increasingly listening to classical music on my rare evenings off in my micro-apartment in Horwood K Block.
The place was described as a resident tutor’s flat and I was very lucky to be allowed such space and comfort for my sabbatical year. In truth, the “flat” was two study bedrooms at the end of a corridor cobbled together with a small galley kitchen and a tiny en suite bathroom and toilet utilising the would-be corridor space and some of the would-be study bedrooms.
Still, I had a sitting room in which to eat, relax with friends and (surprisingly frequently) to act as a dossing floor at night for people who lacked the energy or ability to stagger home. John White, who lived off campus, was quite often such a guest.
Returning to the classical music, my tiny personal collection of classical recordings had not moved on since the early to mid 1970s. I have pretty much documented it all in one Ogblog posting – click here or below.
I had no record player at Keele; hence the couple of hundred cassettes I had accumulated during my Keele years.
I consolidated the fancied bits of that tiny classical record collection on to eight cassettes, which I have replicated through the following two YouTube playlists, which you can access despite even if you see off-putting strikethroughs:
Wherever possible I have found the exact same 1960s/1970s recordings for those playlists. I have rather enjoyed listening to them again after so many years. Of course I can hear more modern and technically much better recordings at the press of a button these days, but these are the performances and recordings I remember from back then.
I played bits of those eight cassettes quite a lot in 84/85.
My only sound system until the record player loan…excellent it was too.
While John White and I tended to trawl my far more copious collection of modern music, partly with a view to planning discos and the like…I’ll be writing more on that topic in a future piece…
… Kate (now Susan) Fricker used to like to hear classical music when she visited, while Petra also quite often requested a classical music backdrop on the increasingly frequent occasions that she was at the flat.
Indeed, it was through Petra, or more accurately one of Petra’s friends, I think probably Ruth, that a record player found its way into my flat. Petra’s friend had discovered, like many Keele students before her, that there was not much room for a turntable and stereo system in a study-bedroom.
The record player was lent to us for an unspecified period (I think it ended up at mine for the rest of the academic year), taking pride of place in my so-called living room. It looked rather grand in that setting, but for the inconvenient truth that I had no records at Keele. Not one.
Occasionally someone would come round with a record, and we could play it, but this seemed like underutilisation to me.
All this is a preamble to the one big thing I remember about visiting my old (as in long-term, not elderly) friend Jilly Black in Cardiff that first weekend of March 1985. Here’s all I wrote in the diary about it.
Friday 1 March 1985.– Very busy morning to get all out of way – left Keele early. Went to Cardiff – supper and drink – earlyish night.
Saturday 2 March 1985 – rose quite late – did some work – went to Cardiff Union -> shops -> back – went drink -> Chinese -> back for more drink – pleasant day.
Sunday, 3 March 1985 – got up quite late – had lunch – left Cardiff – long journey – went union – went Petra’s – [she] came over later.
Jilly was studying music at Cardiff. It was Jilly who had introduced me to Claudio Abbado at The Proms some 18 months earlier…
…and I recall that my visit to see her in Cardiff was long overdue.
My enduring memory of that particular visit was purchasing 10 classical records under Jilly’s “tutelage” on the Saturday. The only other things I remember about that visit were:
being reminded that everything in Wales, at that time, shut down ridiculously early on a Friday evening – hence the otherwise out of character “supper drink and early night”;
that Jilly’s “then but soon to be ex” boyfriend did something of a no show, so I didn’t get to meet him and this was a bit of a cloud over an otherwise very enjoyable weekend
an excellent Chinese meal in a restaurant on the Cardiff Riverside which I think might even have been named, suitably, Riverside Cantonese or some such.
But let us examine the 10 classical albums that I bought on the Saturday with Jilly’s help. Where I can identify the album I have added a Discogs link, which, for some obscure reason, tend to look struck through even though you can click them happily:
I vaguely remember a running gag in which Jilly and I imagined sequels with names such as “Sidney in Spain and “Monty in Bournemouth”. Perhaps you had to be there.
If you are reading this article, pining for that fine mini collection of ancient recordings of classics, brilliantly curated by Jilly, pine no more. This YouTube playlist has all but one of them (I have so far failed to trace the particular Vivaldi sonatas and concerti on the album so-named). Here is a link to the YouTube playlist that includes those classic albums. The usual “don’t worry if you see a strike through, you can click happily” rule applies.
I’ll be returning to the topic of Keele discos and playlists for those soon enough.
