Mr. Hodges took our French period this morning as Mr. Leeds had to catch a train.

   This afternoon I cycled to Blues match v Coventry City. Dad wasn’t able to go, of course. The teams were: B’ham:— Merrick; Green, Badham; Boyd, Newman, Warhurst; Stewart, Briggs, Trigg, Murphy, Wardle. Coventry City:— Taylor; Mason, Harrison; Dorman, McDonnell, Simpson; Jamieson, Allen, Lowrie, Chisholm, Lockhart. [Don Dorman was transferred from Birmingham City in September last year. In the War he was wounded and captured after parachuting from a Dakota over Arnhem in August 1943. Matt McDonnell also played for Birmingham City. I have met them both and procured their autographs. Peter Murphy was a Coventry player earlier in his career].

   The game started as though it were going to be a rough and tumble one but Ref. A. Bond took a firm hand and we saw a good exhibition of football. There were no goals in the first half but Blues got three afterwards from Stewart (47 mins), Briggs (58) and Murphy (68). In addition Wardle shot wide from a penalty. All the forwards played well, especially the left wing pair. Jamieson made the score 3–1 (81 mins).

   Another woman killed herself jumping from a 5th floor window of Lewis’s yesterday evening. She was Millicent Joan Salter (29) of 23 Yateley Crescent, Great Barr. It is the third death at Lewis’s in 12 months.

   Nothing much happened today. Grandad came at 5.0pm.

   The Daily Mail National Radio and Television awards were made this evening. For children’s television Humphrey Lestoq won the award and “What’s My Line?” was the favourite TV programme. The Newsreel was a close second. In sound radio “Take it From Here” won the award again. We watched a programme on TV for half an hour and then listened in to the awards at 9.0

   There is nothing much to record today.

   I started my prep. at 4.30 so that I was able to watch “What’s My Line?” on TV. There was a special “Ladies Night”.

   It has rained heavily for most of the day.

   Today was the Cross-country run. This year I am in the Open class so I had to go over the longer course, 3« miles, in half an hour. The juniors’ race began at 2.15, our race was at 2.45.

   The conditions were terrible. Just before the start, the rain started to pour down and there was a most unpleasant wind. I was rather behind from the beginning but I kept fairly well in front and finished thirty sixth out of about a hundred and forty. The race was won by Thompson in 20 4/5 minutes. My time was about twenty two minutes.

   The House [Vardy] won the Cross-country Cup. The juniors were first and we finished fourth, so we had the best average position.

   On TV tonight we watched a comedy “The Monster of Killoon” by Geoffrey Kerr, with Jack Warner and Pet Clark. I enjoyed it very much.

   I went to school on my bike today. Yesterday I was late when I missed the S.B. We went for Mass Radiography at 9.30. This was my third X-ray but this time the X-rays were taken through our clothing.

   At 12.55 I went to a choir practice and again at 3.45 when we sang Praise ye the Lord and Te Deum to two gentlemen, one a B.B.C. official, the other a Norwegian.

   I went to the Piccadilly this evening to see Frank Sinatra, Jane Russell and Groucho Marx in an RKO Radio film Double Dynamite. Jane Russell is the girl friend of Frank Sinatra — a cautious bank clerk who wins a huge sum of money on the day the bank finds a shortage in the books. Groucho Marx is a philosophical waiter. It was a good film but Best of the Badmen (U) with Robert Ryan and Clair Trevor, was better.

   In Biology this morning we had to write an essay on Hydra and we also had a test in Physics. In J.T.C. I went through last week’s test.

   Immediately after school I had to go up to Beacon Hill, my spot on Field Day, to work out some Map Reading questions. It took me three quarters of an hour to reach the spot after getting off the tram [the No. 70, Rednal — the indicator blind shown here is about 16 feet long; the driver winds it round to show the tram’s destination].

   It was raining heavily and visibility was only a few yards so I wasn’t able to make any questions after all.

   I cycled again this morning. At dinner time I went to a Christian Union meeting when the Vicar of Elmdon, the Rev. H.C. Carter, spoke on “Christianity — its value”. After school I went to a meeting of the Music Circle. Mr. John Lowe, Head of B.B.C. Midland Region Music gave a most entertaining lecture on B.B.C. programmes.

   Dad went to see a doctor at the hospital today. He went and came back by ambulance. On Monday Dad is going to be put in plaster of Paris for some time.

   This evening we listened to the radio. We heard “One Minute Please”, “Palace of Varieties” and “Bedtime with Braden”.

   I cycled to school as usual for a Saturday morning. Mr. Woods gave us a short equations test on the halogens again today. We had one earlier in the week.

   At 1.15 I listened to the fourth episode of a Philip Odell adventure “The Lady on the Screen” then while I did prep, Dad watched the Women’s Hockey International between England v Scotland for half an hour, after which we both listened to the 6th round tie between Portsmouth and Newcastle. And Newcastle won, thanks to a Milburn hat-trick. The other winners were Chelsea, Blackburn Rovers and Arsenal. Providing that they are not drawn together in the Semi-Final, it looks like being Arsenal and Newcastle for the Cup Final. If they should meet I should say it will be between Arsenal and Blackburn Rovers.

   We got up early this morning. I did quite a lot of work during the day (I spent two hours on a Biology essay).

   This evening we saw Home and Beauty a farce by W. Somerset Maugham. The play is set at the end of the First World War when a soldier returns home to find that his wife, believing him to be dead, has married his best friend. The play was very well done and it contained some very interesting newsreel shots of the war.

   I went to school on my bicycle this morning.

   I only got 5/20 in Thursday’s Physics test but fortunately I got 36/40 in last week’s prep.

   Mr. Parry was absent today and Mr. Crow took the English period. We had to read through the first act of You Never Can Tell.

   I went to Choir Practice as usual. After school, I had a haircut.

   This evening when I had done all my prep and taken Ginger out, I watched “What’s My Line?”. It was the Gentlemen’s evening and Elizabeth Allan was in the chair.

   Instead of our doing Practical Chemistry this morning, Mr. Woods showed us some Halogen experiments. I cam home via town as I had to call at one or two shops for Mam.

   I went to Cubs this evening for the first time since January 1st. A team of six was taking part in the Divisional Flag Competition so I did not see Mr. Winters. We have several new members but the [Scout] troop has gone down to four.

   I took Ginger out when I got home and then listened to the fight between Jack Gardner and Johnny Williams for the Heavyweight Championship of Great Britain. Gardner won the title from Bruce Woodcock way back in 1949 but he lost on points tonight over fifteen rounds. Dad was able to listen to the fight as I fitted up the radio in the bedroom yesterday. [He is now confined to bed and is likely to remain so for some months.]

   I did not go to school on the bus this morning but I went with it on my bike from Shaftmoor Lane to Moseley. I climbed College Road hill in record time.

   Mr. Monkcom ordered some cockroaches for dissection recently. They arrived yesterday — alive! Today Mr. Monkcom chloroformed them & we were able to make drawings during fourth period [11.45am — 12.25pm].

   During the dinner hour I played football.

   In Practical Physics Mr. Mathews spent a full period discussing with me my Practical Note-Book. [He appreciates my skilfully drawn diagrams of apparatus but said I am taking too much time over them.] Then I did an experiment to find the bore of a glass tube.

   J.T.C. this morning consisted mainly of a briefing for Field Day tomorrow.

   I went down to Eastern Road this afternoon to see if I could get some Athletics Standards. I had a try at the 100 yards. I was last away but came up to second place. Even so I missed the Standard by the narrowest of margins and I did worse at a second attempt.

   I went to the Hippodrome this evening to see “Radio Times”, featuring Max Wall, Dick James, the Hedley Ward Trio and Beryl Reid. It was a very good show indeed. I liked best of all, I think, the Hedley Ward Trio. Beryl Reid gave us some of her impressions and later introduced her B.B.C. character “Monica”. The eight Sherman-Fisher girls danced twice or three times during the show.

   Today was Field Day. John Maund, Bob Clasper and I were given a lift to Rednal and then I had to go straight up to Beacon Hill. I spent the whole of the morning and until 2.0pm. asking pairs of boys a series of questions on map-reading. Fortunately, the day was clear and one could see for many miles. It wasn’t very warm — Beacon Hill is just about one of the windiest spots imaginable.

   When we had returned to the tram terminus I took a section back to school. There was a free tea as usual — sausage and mash, ice cream and jelly, and bread and butter.

   This evening the Kirk o’Shotts Television transmitter was officially opened.

   Nothing at all happened this morning. I cycled to Birmingham’s home match v Sheffield United.

   Blues won 3–nil with goals from Murphy (23 and 88 minutes) and Trigg (49 minutes) but still threw away a large number of chances. United centre-half Toner suffered a head injury and went to outside-right and later in goal when Burgin injured his arm. Altogether it was not a bad game. The teams were: Birmingham City:— Merrick; Green, Badham; Boyd, Ferris, Warhurst; Stewart, Briggs, Trigg, Murphy, Wardle. Sheffield United:— Burgin; Furniss, Cox; Hitchen, Toner, Shaw; Ringstead, Smith, Browning, Hutchinson, Hawksworth.

   There is nothing much to record again today.

   Tonight Mam went to bed early but I decided to stay up and watch the Sunday evening play, a comedy written by George Moresby White and Rex Rienits and entitled “No smoking”.

   It had a theme similar to that of the film The Man in the White Suit. A village chemist invents some tablets which stop people from smoking, with disastrous results for the Chancellor of the Exchequer [who] is faced with an appalling deficit from the loss of revenue on tobacco after an American advertising man has got busy. I suppose that most viewers found it amusing; it was far fetched of course, but it needed one’s full attention to be able to follow a play that had a cast of thirty-two.

   I went on the S.B. this morning. In Physics we have been doing the Kinetic Theory of gases and in Chemistry the Electronic Theory of Valency.

   In Biology we had an end of term test but I did terribly badly.

   This evening when I had taken Ginger out I watched “What’s My Line?” with the regular team of Marghanita Laski, Jerry Desmonde, Elizabeth Allan and Gilbert Harding.

   In Chemistry this morning John and I prepared Iodic Acid. The fumes nearly choked us and we had to curtail the experiments before the end of the second period.

   I did prep. all afternoon and went to Cubs this evening. I cycled there as I did last week.

   In fourth period today we dissected and drew the heads of our cockroaches.

   After dinner I had a game of football and after school John and I went to a Scientific Society lecture on “Metals of the Future” by Mr. E. Swainson of I.C.I. Ltd. It was extremely interesting and we had a chance to see and handle some of the rarer metals including Titanium which is becoming increasingly prominent just lately.

   When I got home I listened to the last twenty minutes of the Wales v Ireland International match. Wales won 3–nil.

   This evening I saw the Newsreel, “Pot-Luck” and Joan Gilbert “At Home”. This latter programme is nothing more than “Picture Page” in disguise but it isn’t really as good as its illustrious predecessor.

   In J.T.C. today, we had a Field Day “post-mortem” and then a drill competition.

   I went to Standards [at Eastern Road] after dinner. I had a third try at the 100 yards but pulled a muscle in my right leg. That more or less finished my activities for the afternoon. It was the last day for standards, though, and I decided a week ago to enter for the Mile, so I went in the race today. Fortunately, but rather surprisingly, I got the standard (or rather two) fairly easily in 5 mins. 32 seconds despite the fact that I had almost to limp the first two laps. Anyway I have now obtained three standards in each of the last three years.

   As usual I listened to the radio this evening when I had done some homework.

   We had no Practical Chemistry today because we had to go to the Sixth Form lecture at 3.0pm. It was given by Mr. David Bryson of the B.B.C. but I didn’t find it very interesting.

   I shalln’t have to go to school tomorrow as it is the Choir half-holiday so I was able to leave prep. for tonight and go to the Warwick.

   Grandad came at 4.30 and went home at about 7.0. I went to the bus stop with him & then went straight into the cinema. [The Outer Circle No. 11 bus stopped at the bottom of Westley Road, opposite the cinema. Grandad lived at 23 Pretoria Road, Bordesley Green, He would get off the Outer Circle bus at the Yew Tree, catch the 15A, 15B or 16 ’bus to Blake Lane, then walk down Third Avenue and cross over Bordesley Green to Pretoria Road.]

   The first film was Flowing Gold dealing with oil, It was a good film and had a most exciting climax. I have waited several weeks to see Lullaby of Broadway, a Technicolor musical starring Doris Day and Gene Nelson. It was certainly worth waiting for, “a sparkling feast of entertainment with a song, a dance and a laugh for every light on Broadway”.

   I got up at about 8.30 this morning. At 9.0 Dad and I listened to a repeat of last night’s “Bedtime With Braden”. This is one of the most witty and entertaining variety shows on the air. I fail to understand why the repeat should be at such a ridiculous hour. Later in the morning I went shopping taking Ginger with me, then I watched the composite Newsreel on TV.

   I did prep. during the afternoon then at 5.0 I took Clarice & Julia to the Hippodrome to see “Educating Archie” but we couldn’t get a seat, so we came home and watched TV instead.

   From 8 till 8.30 we saw the second episode of “The Broken Horseshoe”, a Martyn C. Webster production of a Francis Durbridge thriller. It is very good. The Saturday night variety was Café Continentale.

   Nothing happened this morning. After dinner I did some prep. until 5.30. I took Ginger out early so that I could watch a TV play at 8.30.

   The play was a mystery thriller Dial M for Murder by Frederick Knott. It was full of subtle moves and never failed to hold one’s attention. The main parts were very well played by Emrys Jones, Elizabeth Sellars and Raymond Huntley, especially that of the Inspector by Raymond Huntley. [The success of the play leads two years later to its being filmed for Warner by Alfred Hitchcock. It stars Ray Milland, Grace Kelly and Robert Cummings.]

   I haven’t much to write today. In Choir, we are busy rehearsing a 16th Century Anthem Lord, for Thy tender mercies’ sake and Nunc Dimittis for next Saturday’s service.

   In Biology we have finished our practical work on the cockroach and we are now studying the honey bee.

   I came home through town as I wanted to get tickets for a forthcoming “Town Forum” on Thursday week.

   I listened this evening to Carroll Levis and his discoveries and part of “We Beg to Differ”.

   I was not able to go to school this morning as Mam had to go to Solihull Hospital for an examination and Dad is, of course, still in bed.

   I got up at the usual time and went down the village with Ginger to buy today’s Picture Show. For the rest of the morning I did some prep.

   During the afternoon I went down the village for Mam. I did not go to Cubs this evening but did listen to “Take it From Here” and “The Goon Show”. In TV Children’s Hour I watched the last of the six Billy Bunter series. I missed the first two of these adventures and the newspaper reports were very discouraging. But I must say that I have really enjoyed the last four adventures [even] if some old readers of The Magnet did not. [Gerald Campion plays the part of Billy Bunter.]

   We are now doing Nitrogen and its compounds in Chemistry.

   At 1.0pm today I went to an N.C.O.’s parade. Tomorrow C Coy are doing mutual drill and the bren. It was decided that 10 Platoon should do the latter so this evening I have been revising some notes which I made just a year ago when I was taking Cert. A, Part 2.

   In Physics I did two experiments — the Inverse Square Law for a single pole and Young’s Modulus for a wire.

   After school John and I went to Mr. Woods’ lecture on “Colloids” to the Scientific Society. It was not only interesting but also most entertaining from the practical view, for Mr. Woods performed a wide range of experiments, many of which were most mystifying.

   This evening I have got ready my uniform and watched “Current Release”. Mr. Moore came at nine. [George A. Moore, my godfather, lives at 54 Ulverley Green Road, Olton. He is an evangelical and leads the Mission where we attend on Sunday afternoons. He has come to see how Dad is.]

   I went to school on the 1A ’bus this morning in order to get to school in time for a Choir Practice at 9.0am.

   We did not after all do the bren gun in J.T.C. as all the guns were in use. We did mutual drill instead.

   I met Brenda after school. [Brenda Radbourne attends King Edward’s High School for Girls. We have come to know each other through being in “Midland Magazine” together.] I came home through town. While I was in town it started to snow.

   I am going to bed at 9.30 this evening. We shall be able to listen to “Life With the Lyons” upstairs [where Dad listens in bed].

   This morning I went to school on the S.B. and got there in time for another Choir Practice before prayers.

   We dissected the Earthworm during Biology.

   At 1.15 the Choir had to go up to Edgbaston Old Church. We did not get back until 2.30 so I missed Gym yet again. Nothing else happened at school.

   We listened to the radio this evening.

   The weather today has been terrible. It took me over forty minutes to cycle home against a high N.E. wind.

   The main event today was the Boat Race which we watched on TV. Unfortunately, blinding snow put one of the cameras out of action so viewers were switched to John Snagge’s Light Programme commentary. Then his launch broke down. However the camera fault was put right and we saw a most thrilling finish with Oxford first past the post by only a canvass.

   The Grand National was won by Teal (100–7) five lengths from Legal Joy with Wot No Sun a bad third.

   England beat Scotland 2–1 at Hampden but the Blackburn R. v Newcastle Utd. semi-final was postponed. The Arsenal v Chelsea semi-final was drawn 1–all.

   We got up late this morning and had no breakfast but an earlier dinner than usual.

   At 2.15pm I went to our school service. The Head [Mr. T.E.B. Howarth] was the first to start these services and this was to be his last as headmaster. The sermon was preached by Professor M.V.C. Jeffreys [who is Professor of Education and Director of the Institute of Education at the University].

   We did not listen to radio or television at all this evening.

   Nothing happened at school this morning. In Choir we rehearsed some of the choruses from Judas Maccabaeus.

   The S.B. did not turn up after school so I walked and caught a [1A] ’bus outside Cannon Hill Park.

   When I got home I listened to a special Request Week edition of “Midland Magazine” which lasted for fifteen minutes.

   Dad has been coming down every day now for some time. Tonight everyone was in bed by eight o’clock except me of course as I still had to take Hound out. When I had done so I watched “What’s My Line?”