More Little Paxton Manorial history research in Bedford after an uninspiring dark morning in November and then home for tea to see the Christmas Tree being decorated and pleased at Daniel’s success in his Biology exam as Thatcher denies Rothschild was a spy and urges support in Europe for the embattled Ronald Reagan, whose Defense Secretary is speaking out against Neil Kinnock’s disarmament proposals and shocking facts emerge about Oxford University drug taking where Olivia Channon died in the company of brewing heir Sebastian Guinness
An energetic start to the night, but slept well enough until the early hours, when I lay awake and restless. Reluctant to awake to order and turned over for a further snooze, before eventually up and showered and shaved. The mornings are still so dark these days, that there is little encouragement. Down to breakfast and still the children do not tidy their rooms sufficiently in the morning. Settled down with the paper and then the morning post, but did not have all of the time that I needed to finish them before it was time to move on. Di was taking the girls to a preview opening of St Neots new indoor swimming pool and so I went to Bedford on my own to do some more studying of Little Paxton Manorial history. Stopped on the way at Peacocks auction rooms and looked around, first the antique viewing and then the general viewing, before concluding that there was little in either to interest me. Walked on to the Bedford Reference Library and copied out all mentions of Little Paxton in the Feet of Fine transcripts, which took me the rest of the morning.
Then had a couple of salad & corn beef rolls and a pot of tea at the cafeteria there. It is very convenient and quite nice, though the number of pensioners and others make it a bit difficult to find a table. After, I asked about Calendars of Patents etc and was let into the inner reference room where they had an almost full set of Calendars of Patents, Close, Pipes, Magna Regia, Fines etc., and I copied across many of the entries for Little Paxton until driven away by need of the toilet and lack of time. Home in time for tea and then the children decorated the Christmas tree. I read through my notes for the day and concluded there was still a lot of doubt on the Manorial descents. Dan took his last exam and was 4th in biology. The news tonight is of the Thatcher denial, much delayed, that says that the government has no evidence that Lord Rothschild was a spy. Thatcher has also spoken out in support of Reagan and appealed to EEC heads of government at the start of a two day Community Summit, that it was in the interests of the Western Alliance to remain supportive whilst President Reagan was facing domestic difficulties. He has now to cope with an investigating Select Committee from each of the two Houses of Congress. Thatcher will meet US Defence Secretary, Caspar Weinberger, on Monday and NATO has already spoken out against Kinnock’s unilateral nuclear disarmament proposals and threatened that US troops would be withdrawn from the UK, if their nuclear cover was to cease. The European leaders also discussed AIDS and the disease seems to be spreading out of control now. The British Gas share issue is looking a little healthier, as the PR campaign gets back into gear. Smaller investors will be favoured, to keep the numbers on the share register up for political reasons. Amongst three Oxford students jailed today for getting drugs for the late Olivia Channon (the Trade Minister’s daughter) was Sebastian Guinness, heir to the brewing fortune. It seems that heroine is in common use amongst upper-class students. Following rioting and protest from French students over reductions in the grant support system, the government are backing down on some of the key changes.