In which I continue at Eltham College.  The diary for 1960 is much bigger than the 1959 one which was a Letts School Diary.  This year there are four days per page on an 8x4 hardcover book.

Friday 1 January
The weather wasn't very nice to start off the 1960s, it rained quite heavily this morning but cleared up later.  I had quite a post this morning.  A card from OERFC about rugger, an invoice from Easybind Ltd. about a binder I've ordered and a subscription form from the YHA. Have done some school work this morning - about time too.  This afternoon I went up to the record shop but the record I've ordered had not come in.  Dad came home early to go to the doctor's, he didn't have a very good night last night.  Mrs. Champion came in this evening but as the TV is US. we talked and listened to the wireless.  

Saturday 2 january
I didn't get up until quite late this morning.  I was very tired. I went up to Smiths about 11.45 only to find out that the book I have ordered (Locos of BR, Casserly and Asher pt. 4) was out of print.  Instead I bought two Penguins with the book token Auntie Doris and Uncle Albert sent me for Christmas. (Ghost Stories of an Antiquary by M.R. James and The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh). In the afternoon I went to the record shop to get my new LP (Tchaikovski and Mendelsohn Violin Concertos, Christian Ferras with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Constantin Silvestri).  I only had time to play the Mendelsohn concerto because Uncle Alf called in the car at 4.00 to take us up to their house for the evening.  Uncle also brought Auntie Edie, Uncle Jim and Trevor up and later fetched Dad from work.  After tea we played pontoon.  The bank was not very successful but I managed to make 4/5d.  About 11.30 Uncle Alf brought us home and I got to bed about midnight.  Trevor is out of work at present, he has given in his notice but has several interviews.

Sunday 3 January
I listened to the second half of my record, the Tchaikovski violin concerto, this morning before I got up. I like itvery much. Paul came over to find out what was wrong with the TV, it was a valve gone. This afternoon I was doing some geography when Roy Bennet and Peter Gregory came down. I am going to Peter's after rugger on Tuesday. This evening we have had a go at my record player, it isn't so bad now. Afterwards I played some of Mum and Dad's old records including the Caruso one.

Monday 4 January
Had a postcard from Reading University this morning, my name is on their waiting list, that's something.  Also had a castrol chart to F. Mendelsohn.  Did some more geography this morning.  This afternoon I played in the Combe schoolboys trials and have badly jarred my left shoulder again, hope it will be alright for tomorrow.  I played on the wing for part of the match.  After seeing David to the station this evening I went next door to meet the Abbots.  Mum and Dad came later.  Dad and Paul have fixed the TV.  Paul can work wonders.

Tuesday 5 January
My shoulder hurt quite a bit last night and kept me awake.  This morning I have done some more geography.  Mum has sent off for an electric drill for Dad. This afternoon I went to Sidcup to play for the Elthamians Colts XV against Sidcup Colts XV.  Unfortunately I had to hook.  We were leading 11-6 at half time but the scrum played better in the second half and we won 27-6.  Afterwards I went over to Peter Gregory's house to spend the evening with Jean, Mary and Roy.  We caught the 9.45 train from Bickley and I got home about 10.30.  My shoulder is still bothering me.

Wednesday 6 January
Dad has some time owing to him so he took the morning off and has been working in the garden all day. I have been doing geography all the morning and hjave at last finished Switzerland. This afternoon I had my third polio shot and at the same time asked the doctor about my shoulder. I have got to rest it which means no rugger for the time being. Coming back I went to the library and took out two books, one on rugby and one on the Great Northern Railway. Auntie Win and Uncle Alf came down this evening but left early because it is foggy. The Ogdens have lent me their sun lamp for my shoulder.

Thursday 7 January
Went by train to David's for the day. John was also there but he came later. This morning we made up an aeroplane kit which David had sent for Christmas from America. It is quite a good moxel of the Hustler jet bomber. This afternoon we played records, my new record, David's records of the "Goldoliers" and John's Beethoven third piano concerto. In the evening John showed his colour slides of our holiday. It is very foggy this evening. Mrs Tyler set out in the Bond to take us home but it was so foggy that she took us to the station (Shortlands). The train was on time but it lost some between Bickley and St. Mary Cray.

Friday 8 January
It was still foggy this morning so I phoned Rpy Bennet and we decided to cancel the hike planned for today. I have been over with Mum and Doreen (Ogden) to collect chippings from the trees they are cutting down in the Priory. Doreen seems to have a "Leadbetter Complex", she was afraid they would see her carrying the wood and kept on mentioning them. I couldn't care less what other people think! This evening Roy abnd Peter came down, we watched television and discussed the holiday. Aubntie Pat rang up next door about 7.45 p.m. and asked me if I would like to go to the Boat Show tomorrow. I'm catching the 9.29 a.m. train from Orpington, if I can get up in time.

Saturday 9 January
I did manage to get up in time but when I arrived at the station I found the train was 9.19 instead of 9.29.  I met Richard alright at Bromley South and we got to the Boat Show quite quickly.  I found it very interesting.  Among the things we saw was the Saunders Roe Hovercraft, the only one of its kind. The cabin cruiser I liked the best was the "Giselle", a six berth boat with almost everything (except television). We went back to Auntie Vi's birthday party.  Uncle Jack, Auntie Sue and Suzette were there.  It has been snowing although not much has settled yet.  It is freezing this evening and we left Bloomfield Road early because we thought the buses might not be running.  But they were OK and we were home at about 1015.  I have many leaflets from the Boat Show to sort out.
England beat Scotland 13-11 at Murrayfield.

Sunday 10 January
When I woke up this morning there was quite a thick snow cover, nearly 2 inches. I think this is the heaviest snow fall we have had in a couple of years. The snow was hard to sweep away because it clogged the broom. This morning I went with Jean and Susan for a walk around Cray Rec(reation Ground). Shan loves the snow although she can't understand where all the snowballs go that are thrown at her. I listened to the BBC Network Three programme "On Railways" or at least part of it because the transmission broke down half way through. We spent a quiet evening with no visitors - this is very strange for a Sunday.

Monday 11 January
I overslept this morning - didn't wake until 9.30, but even so I was surprised to find that all the snow had melted in the night. I took my record :"Best of Sellers" into next door for Susan to hear. She had an interview at Great Ormon Street today. I can't imagine her being a nurse. This afternoon I carried on with my study of Southern Region locomotives, I was doing the original Brighton Atlantics class H1.This evening Roy and Peter came down, the purpose was to play records but we watched television instead, there was some boxing.

Tuesday 12 January
More snow this morning, and ice. I couldn't sweep the snow away, it was easier to scrape it off. Have been doing some school work and also some moer S.R. loco classes. I have done classes I1X, I3, J, J1 and J2 - there is not much to say about them. I have borrowed some of the Ogden's records - a Mozart piano concerto (presumably no. 23), Elgar's Cockaigne Overture and some others. This evening I listened to Beethoven's Emperor piano concerto. I like the way the Priory is now, we can see the inner pond quire clearly now that the trees have been cut down. It looked very nice this afternoon with sun being reflected off the pond.

Wednesday 13 January
Yesterday's snow is still with us, it has been very cold and the temperatures have been below freezing all day. This morning I went up to the Library and took out a book by J.A. Steers on "Britain's Coastline". I also had a look in the reference section where there is an interesting book on old Orpington. After listening to Brahms violin concerto I scraped the ice off the path and did LSW class K10 and S.R. class K.E.S. (?). Dad has gone up to the doctors again, it seems he will have to go the the hospital for treatment. This evening I have been getting ready for school which starts tomorrow.

Thursday 14 January

Back to school - I didn't feel much like it - it's still very cold with fairly frequent snow showers. School doesn't seem to have changed much although work is still going on in the brickwork on the front of the old buildings and room seven is out of bounds as it is being redecorated for use as a third year sixth common room. Have not done much today as I have four P.S. In a music we heard a Bach cantata, the orchestra sounded quite primitive and altogether I didn't think much of it. I hurried home because it was still cold. Dad's electric drill has arrived and was a complete surprise. He was very pleased with it and Mum had great difficulty in getting Dad to eat his dinner.

Friday 15 January

We had some more snow last night and it is still very cold althougha thaw did set in about midday. There's not much snow lying on the ground and the roads are clear although East Kent is really snowbound with many roads blocked. It is the worst freeze up since the winter of 1947 - 8. In In our maths periods now, we have started to do the "A" level maths papers, I don't like to doing it but it is very good practice. For our current affairs we had a talk by a man from the patent office. It was very interesting he told us how a patent was granted and showed us some patents - a new one and then old one which had a huge seal on it about 6 inches across. He also showed us patents for the first machine gun and apparatus so that people are not buried alive.

Saturday 16  January
Dad was off all day today, it's still cold although later on today a thaw set in and most of the snow has gone. My self binder for last year's issues of Trains Illustrated arrived and I have bound them, it is quite good. This afternoon Peter Gregory came down to watch the England - Wales rugger match at Twickenham. It was a very good game with England winning 14 - 6. Two tries were scored - the first for the two seasons in an English international. In the evening we watched TV and played whist. Peter didn't leave until 10:40 he was going to catch the 11.15 train from Orpington, I don't know if he caught it by the way he was ambling.

Sunday 17 January
Delivered a note to Mrs Crane who lives further up Court Road - something about a whist drive. Later on I brought back a big log of wood from the Priory, it will cut up into quite a few logs. Dad has been rubbing down the dining room table with his new drill and re-polishing it, it looks much better. This afternoon I have been doing some school work - maths and economics. I got a splinter in my right hand index finger from carrying the log back, I've been poking about with a needle and a pair of twieezers but without any success. I think Mrs Ogden has ousted it out.

Monday 18 January
It turned out that Peter Gregory did catch his train - I don't know how. Jean has told me to assume that she would not be coming hostelling with us this summer. Instead we have asked Dave Waywell and David Wright. Dave Waywell can almost certainly come and Wright thinks it will be ok for him. This evening Dad is still polishing the table while I have been doing some maths and listened to a broadcast of the symphony by Cesar Frank, Mum has gone to the W. I. Whist Drive with Mrs Ogden and Mrs Champion. Mom has to bake the cakes for the whist drive and was worried as to whether they would be all right.

Tuesday 19 January
When I came down this morning there was a letter waiting for me from the London School of Economics, I didn't pay much attention to it because I thought it was just asking me to go to an interview but when I opened it it was a provisional acceptance. This means that I have been accepted provided I get two 60% at A level in June. Dad went to the hospital this morning and he will have to go in early in February for a few days - nothing serious. This evening I did my first rugger practice for about 6 weeks. I was really tired out afterwards although we didn't really do much.

Wednesday 20 January
So far this term I have been very good in geography.  I haven't made any rude comments at Bernie.  I wonder how long it is going to last. Roy was surprised today when Adrian Davies turned him out of the library during period seven.  The cause "insubordination".  I played in the first seniors house match for the term against Chalmers.  We won 3-0 although we deserved to score many more. Roger Davies scored the try, taking about six opponents over the line with him.  I had to lead the scrum and was quite hoarse afterwards.  Auntie Pat and Uncle Reg came over this evening.  Richard stayed at home doing some work, I'm not sorry, I've some too.

Thursday 21 January
When I woke up this morning I found my left knee was aching. It is slightly swollen due to being twisted in the match yesterday. What with this and my suspect left shoulder I think it will be better not to play on Saturday but I'll see how it is tomorrow. Today is my easy school day as I only have three periods - economics, music and a weekly sociology with the Headmaster. Consequently I have been able to get a great deal of work done, mostly geography, and now I am completely up to date. I came straight home from school without doing a rugger practice. The large tree opposite us has now been cut down. Excitement in the London money market when the bank rate was raised from 4% - 5%. This wasn't unexpected but the timing was before most people thought. The action was taken in order to stop any possibilities of inflation during this boom time.

Friday 22 January
I won't be playing tomorrow as my knee is weak and I may do it some real damage. We now have six people to go hosteling in the summer. Apart from me, Roy, Pete, Dave, Tika, and Honk will be coming. In P.S. 5 we were discussing our holidays. Bishop and Wright (Honk) were turning us how Pete managed to run the river bank at right angles last summer. Last period we had a talk by Mr Hugh Lyon from the Public Schools Appointments Bureau. It was quite interesting. After school I went to the geographical society's film show. We saw three films on fishing, forestry in Nigeria and the surf boats of Aura (Ghana). Mrs Champion came in this evening.

Saturday 23 January
This morning I went up to Marchants to have my photo taken for the London School of Economics. It will be ready by Tuesday. Afterwards I went into the library to get a book for my thesis I have to write on "Liberty and the social order". I have been putting in another shelf in my record cabinet for my nineteen 78 records of the Messiah, the new drill certainly helps,. This afternoon I have been watching rugby league and wrestling. Dad has heard that he will be going into hospital next Tuesday - he is to have a minor operation.

Sunday 24 January
I was looking at last year's diary today, it seems that this time last year there was a thick frost all day, certainly different from today because it has been very warm with a fair amount of rain. This morning I did an economics essay and finished off the shelf in my record cabinet. We have been working out where the buildings are that we can see now that the Priory trees have been removed. The view is certainly quite different. This evening we have been playing rummy, I won two games while Mom won the other one.

Monday 25 January
We had a very amusing letter from Barry Bird today addressed to the form as a whole. He left school last term and has been in the RAF for about a week. There was some remarks about a person with "V" signs on his arm from cuff to collar and Becher marching to ban it (the H - bomb) while he was marching to drop it. He seems to be enjoying himself. We had a German boy with us in geography, he didn't say or do much and the lesson was not very exciting. After school I went to the dentist for a checkup and I had three teeth filled. They weren't very serious, no cocaine was used.

Tuesday 26 January
For our weekly science today Taffy turned up about 10 minutes late, told us to get on with some work and then walked out, we didn't see any more of him. After school I collected a book by J.S. Mill from the library, it had been in reserve stock. This evening I went with Mom to see Dad who went into Orpington hospital this morning. He seemed quite happy and has settled down all right. Auntie Win and Uncle Alf also went down, we were surprised to see them as it was quite foggy. Afterwards we called in at Spur road, it's Auntie Edie's birthday tomorrow and we have given her a hot water bottle and cover. Trevor has got another job.

Wednesday 27 January.
Same old routine at school, the latest craze is to carefully turn somebody's desk upside down so that when the owner came to right it all his books fall out - rather stupid but least it relieves the monotony. Peter Gregory is still continuing in his same old way. Every morning his first act upon getting into the form room is to sit on the radiator. Instead of walking he staggers with his feet hardly off the ground. His shoe bills must be terrific. We had a discussion today in geography upon whether fish had "bottoms" and if so could they have eyes in them. Mom went up to to see Dad this afternoon, he is quite happy.

Thursday 28 January
In PS period 5 today I was summoned to the school office where Mrs Catchpole told me that Dad has had his operation and was alright.  This is a relief. After school we had the second senior house match against Moffatt which we lost, somewhat unluckily, 6-3.  I was scrum leader and my throat was quite sore this evening although my leg is OK.  It was a good, hard fought match which I enjoyed very much.  I found their hooker wasn't very good and I managed to hook the ball against the loose head even though I was tight head prop forward,  Mum went to see Dad this evening, he was quite cheerful.

Friday 29 January
My right foot was stiff this morning because of a kick I received in the ankle yesterday.  It was so stiff that I couldn't run with the result that I lost my bus. Tony Butwick did an essay for geography on Switzerland, Peter Gregory copied it. and got 10 out of 20 whereas Tony got 15.  This proved something.  We won't find out until we have geography on Monday.  For our current affairs period today we had a speaker from the Central African Area Bureau.  He wasn't very interesting and gabbled on and on.  This evening we went to see Dad who looks very well, he was quite cheerful although he was in some pain.  Auntie Win and Uncle Alf gave us a lift home.

Saturday 30 January
My February Trains Illustrated came this morning, altogether 300 engines have been withdrawn, an amazing figure.  Of this total 194 were Midland engines including the last nine of a class of 10 Stanier engines two of which I saw stored at Buxton last summer.  Also to go was a Southern class B4 0-4-0 tank.
This afternoon I played for Combe Colts II XV against Saracens B Xv.  We won 3-0 although we should have scored many more tries.  It was a very good game which I enjoyed very much.  Afterwards I got to know some more of the members of the club in the bar.  They are a decent crowd of fellows all about my own age.  Afterwards David came back with me to tea and stopped the evening.  We had intended to listen to parts of the Messiah but we watched TV instead.
I am surprised at the number of phone calls, letters and calls we have had asking how Dad is.  We have certainly found our friends, people are very kind.  Dad was progressing satisfactorily, Mum went to see him this afternoon.  He had six visitors.

Monday 31 January
Peter asked Bernie why he only got 10 out of 20 for his essay as he had the same points as Butwick.  When he told Bernie that the essay was copied he didn't believe him but afterwards raised Gregory's mark to 12 and lowered Butwick's from 15 to 13. I don't know how his mind works.  I had a castrol chard addresses to E. Greig, two composers so far.
After school I watched a junior house match, Carey v. Chalmers Carey lost 0-8.  Most of the mistakes were the normal ones common to beginners.  Dad was more cheerful today.