20June1995

London: 20th June 1995
My dear folks,

It's the loveliest Tuesday evening. Saving that a bus driver tried to send me to the great newsroom in the sky on my way home, it's been a pleasant day. Ironically, the gentleman concerned drove the BBC shuttle that runs between the half dozen establishments in the area. He stopped at one of them and so did I, to give him a brief but firm lecture on desirable driving habits & necessary consideration for cyclists. I may have laboured the point but I stayed on the right side of politeness. No 4-letter words! Nevertheless, I intend to take the matter further with his boss on the morrow. I was distinctly pissed off (if totally unharmed).

However, as I say, it's a lovely evening. Mave was waiting in the hall & followed me upstairs where he promptly plopped his 7-kgs down on my foot for his evening scratch & cuddle. These are important to his state of mind. Thereafter I fed him & he has now settled himself down somewhere for a meditative half hour. Maureen is out. I think she has gone to dinner with a friend. She cooked me an excellent supper last night and accompanied it with a bottle of Marielle's wine. I hardly know which I enjoyed more.

It's been an interesting day. You may have seen something of the civil wedding in London (following their Islamic wedding in Paris) of Imran Khan and Jemima (half-Jewish & converted to Islam) Goldsmith, now known as Haiqa Khan. Daddy, Sir James (Jimmy) Goldsmith, is one of the richest men around & there's much puzzling over why the newly virtuous Imran (who bedded half the social set of Britain in his wilder days) chose Jemima. Did he think he was marrying the keys to the bank, we wonder. Certainly, the lass, at 21 half his age, looked utterly gorgeous. How she will take to life in Lahore (& for how long) we wait to see. These events have occupied a considerable part of my programme's time these past few nights. They're half the news in Britain & all the news in Pakistan.

The other half was the scrapping by the Shell Oil Company at the 11th hour of its plans to sink an oil platform (full or not-full of toxic waste, depending on whom you choose to believe) in the North Sea after days of protests which ran to fire-bombings of their petrol stations in Germany. The company, seeing sales slipping savagely, recanted at 17.58 this evening. I cannot tell you what problems this caused for news bulletins going to air with the story at 18.00. Shell's chairman has since been on the air to explain why the company's position had become untenable. As a conclusion to a drama, it was of five-star quality. The knife through the ribs came this morning when a confidential Shell report (2 years old) was leaked to the media, saying the platform was poisonous & should not be dumped at sea. Fascinating stuff.

Thank you Jones and Cathy for your faxes. Cathy I shall follow up your book interests and report back soonest. (The car vouchers ought to arrive ten days to a week before your departure.) Jones, I rejoice in the good news, of the rapid growth of their house, from Olive & John. Do thank him for fixing the loo. Hope the celebration lunch is just the greatest. And as for Simone's engagement, what can I say? Conal will be devastated. I feel quite moved myself. I do hope that the lad concerned is as nice as you paint him. That really is the news of the week! You must give me an idea of when the great day is planned. (I suppose it's an end of my Portuguese lessons.)

Right, it's gone 20.00. We're into cheap time. Let me get this off.