Talking to Tony Griffiths on the 'phone was most refreshing. I shall be more assertive henceforth with friends and family; Lorna already seems at last willing to sign up. I must resist the temptation to correct Peter Lawley's wilful misconceptions, his determination not to understand the nature and the cheap tariif of 'Broadcall', as he is at least taking the time (albeit an awful lot of time) to read and comment on 'Paradise Delayed'. His obstinate attitude could even be seen as an asset in that regard. If adjustments are made in order to get through to one of his mindset, then the potential readership could be increased.

And boy, is his mind set. It is best exemplified by his references to himself as 'working class'. Seems that sacred and venerable epithet can survive a transition to 'classless' new Labour. I do not doubt that, in his ancestry, there are some worthy (or maybe even some unworthy) proletarians. 'Prole' however, describes Peter about as well as Orthodox Polish rabbi or Devonian aristocrat describes me.

In 'Goodbye to all That', Robert Graves recounts his introduction to class consciousness. Consigned to a fever hospital he found himself, aged c. six, for the first time in his life, amongst a 'crowd of little proletarians'. He would not have spotted the class difference himself, had not the nurses singled him out and fawned on him as 'a proper little gentleman.' Graves' father was a school inspector and hence, a member, in Graves' words, of 'the governing class'. The status of school inspectors has, if anything, risen since Edwardian days. It is Ofsted Inspectors who make or break the careers of others, who indirectly determine the price of property, and, a reflection perhaps on a desperate wish for official approval, whose advent has been cited as the cause of teachers' nervous breakdowns. Even if one's class identity is indelibly imprinted during childhood, impervious to subsequent rises and falls, then Polytechnic Principals were surely, in the fifties and sixties, part of a similarly ranked governing stratum.

The 'phone has not rung yet, so a nominal retainer plus guitar fees will be my income for today. At least I feel in reasonable condition this morning. Yesterday I awoke feeling quite faint and with a stabbing stomach pain. That did not prevent some attempts at telemarketing, a postive UWDC intro. to all the staff at the dentist when I went for a checkup and an hour's dancing towards midnight. And now a postive gloss on Peter. He passed on a recommendation from a writers' course he attended 20 years ago. 'Broaden your reading during research far beyond the subject and style in question'. John Crossan certainly drew on the literary world beyond history, sociology and theology when he described Josephus' attempts to paint himself as 'the very model of a modern Roman General'.

I must now set to a day of card distribution, a long delayed visit to Medina and the purchase of a book with Olly's Waterstone's present.