My Interests and My Past,
and a Resource...

In 1979 I began an A5 page a day diary, a chronicle. From 1980 to 1989 it was free flowing in A4 books. The longest entry on one day was 14 pages. From 1990 to 1992 it was in A4 page a day books. Since then it has open ended again but entries tend to be about a page or two a day. From 1980 until now I have only written an entry on the following day six times, so every day is covered.

Keeping a diary is quite a discipline, and Adrian still does it. Friends know about it, and the Mass Observation Unit of the University of Sussex is aware of it too. Should the diary go there, it can observe a strict access/ research rule. This resource is of millions of words. There are no plans to put the diary day by day on the Internet as this would destroy confidences and also be a huge amount of work; even a journal instead of a diary would be a huge undertaking.

Occasionally there will be safely reproduced entries which reflect on my character and reveal something about the institutions around us. Diaries are primary sources of history or secondary sources for sociology in the detail of life.

Adrian Worsfold

Pluralist - Liberal and Thoughtful