• Business
  • Life
  • Celebrity
  • Sport
  • Blog
  • Auto
  • Tech
Stories from SWNS
Advertisement
  • Home
  • News
    VA Lawyer for Camp Lejeune Toxic Water

    VA Lawyer for Camp Lejeune Toxic Water

    Living The Fantasy: An Interview With The Serpent Calls Author Christopher Bramley

    Living The Fantasy: An Interview With The Serpent Calls Author Christopher Bramley

    Sharp As A Razor: An Interview With Atheist Author Harry Margulies

    Sharp As A Razor: An Interview With Atheist Author Harry Margulies

    Karim Tahseen Khayat: Seeds Training Services and Digital Services

    Dig into Temporarily Insane by Carl Borgen

    Dig into Temporarily Insane by Carl Borgen

    From HID to LED

    From HID to LED

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Business
  • Life
    • Celebrity
  • Tech
    Which elements should you have for a good landing page?

    Which elements should you have for a good landing page?

    4 IT Services Trends in 2022

    4 IT Services Trends in 2022

    Top 5 New Technologies in the Payment Industry For 2022

    Top 5 New Technologies in the Payment Industry For 2022

    Online casinos: A trend that grows daily

    Online casinos: A trend that grows daily

    Artificial Intelligence and Online Casino Games

    Artificial Intelligence and Online Casino Games

    What are the Latest Digital Marketing Trends?

    What are the Latest Digital Marketing Trends?

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
  • Review

    The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild gameplay on the Nintendo Switch

    Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun Review

    macOS Sierra review: Mac users get a modest update this year

    Hands on: Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 review

    The Last Guardian Playstation 4 Game review

    Intel Core i7-7700K ‘Kaby Lake’ review

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    VA Lawyer for Camp Lejeune Toxic Water

    VA Lawyer for Camp Lejeune Toxic Water

    Living The Fantasy: An Interview With The Serpent Calls Author Christopher Bramley

    Living The Fantasy: An Interview With The Serpent Calls Author Christopher Bramley

    Sharp As A Razor: An Interview With Atheist Author Harry Margulies

    Sharp As A Razor: An Interview With Atheist Author Harry Margulies

    Karim Tahseen Khayat: Seeds Training Services and Digital Services

    Dig into Temporarily Insane by Carl Borgen

    Dig into Temporarily Insane by Carl Borgen

    From HID to LED

    From HID to LED

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Business
  • Life
    • Celebrity
  • Tech
    Which elements should you have for a good landing page?

    Which elements should you have for a good landing page?

    4 IT Services Trends in 2022

    4 IT Services Trends in 2022

    Top 5 New Technologies in the Payment Industry For 2022

    Top 5 New Technologies in the Payment Industry For 2022

    Online casinos: A trend that grows daily

    Online casinos: A trend that grows daily

    Artificial Intelligence and Online Casino Games

    Artificial Intelligence and Online Casino Games

    What are the Latest Digital Marketing Trends?

    What are the Latest Digital Marketing Trends?

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
  • Review

    The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild gameplay on the Nintendo Switch

    Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun Review

    macOS Sierra review: Mac users get a modest update this year

    Hands on: Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 review

    The Last Guardian Playstation 4 Game review

    Intel Core i7-7700K ‘Kaby Lake’ review

No Result
View All Result
Stories from SWNS
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Pensioner, 83, has biggest diary ever seen in Britain… with 21,000 pages and FOUR MILLION words

by
August 9, 2013
in News
0
The most prolific living diarist in the world, John Gadd from Dorset, with the exhibition of his diaries

The most prolific living diarist in the world, John Gadd from Dorset, with the exhibition of his diaries

0
SHARES
41
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Dedicated John Gadd has compiled the biggest personal diary ever seen in Britain – a mind-numbing FOUR MILLION words covering 66 years.

His daily journal has filled 21,000 pages in 151 volumes which together weigh half a ton.

John’s epic tome also includes 33,000 photos, illustrations and cuttings from newspapers and everyday items like wine labels and food wrappers.

The most prolific living diarist in the world, John Gadd from Dorset, with the exhibition of his diaries
The most prolific living diarist in the world, John Gadd from Dorset, with the exhibition of his diaries

The 83 year-old started keeping his diary in 1947 and it evolved into a detailed daily record of his every movement and thought.

He spends 20 minutes every day updating his journal and another two hours every weekend arranging and pasting in the illustrations, pictures and cuttings.

And each Christmas he sets aside two weeks to meticulously index that year’s diary – proudly claiming he can find anything within three minutes.

His diary is now EIGHT times the size of War and Peace, over FOUR and a HALF times bigger than the complete works of Shakespeare and close to the total output of Dickens.

John sees his work as a chronicle of life in and around the Dorset village of Fontmell Magna where he lives with wife Barbara.

He said: “The volumes document everything. You name it, it’s in there.

“I write about whatever has captured my imagination during the day.

“I am just keeping a record in case no one else does and I’m a total obsessive with it.

“It would be a shame to look back in so many years time wishing we knew what had happened, or how something had happened.

“It settles family arguments too, my wife Barbara and I are always arguing about who we met, when we met them and how old they are.

“She has a wonderful memory and I have a very bad memory, but I have my diaries – although I have to say she is nearly always right.

“A lot of people are feature in the diary over the years and they often want to see what I say about them – I’m happy to report most of it is good.

“I can’t stop now, when you’ve kept it up as long as I have you need to keep going.”

John started keeping his diary on a whim in 1947 and intermittently filled it in for many years until 1975, when he began keeping a detailed daily event log.

He records the minutiae of his daily routine, from the time he gets up to walking the dog and what he has eaten during the day.

John describes every village fete, the walks he took with his beloved Yorkshire Terriers, and has amassed a vast collection of his favourite wine labels over the years.

He has also recorded the daily events from his 33-year career as an international pig consultant which saw him make many trips abroad.

John, who has one daughter, Alison, has captured some of the biggest changes in history – including the switch from Vinyl to CD.

One extract on September 9, 1988 says: “The day of the LP black disc is coming to an end, so they have been put away while they are available.

“In a years time they will be disappearing off the shelves and before long they will become collectors items as they clear out and the CD will take over.”

John also documents his frustrations at the first postal strike in 17 years in 1988 and his pride at appearing on the front of ‘The Pig Farmer’ magazine.

He also describes the birth of Fergie’s first baby on August 9, 1988: “Fergie had her first baby last night, it will be fifth in succession to the throne.

“No name has been announced yet but the guesses are that it will be either Victoria, or Elizabeth, or both.

“J wants it to be Annabel so he can immediately call it Hannibal.

“Media have gone crazy over the birth, it’s boring me to hell.”

The diaries also include plane tickets, mementos, and photographs of the numerous places he has visited over the years.

His work took him to more than half the globe, including Japan 15 times, the USA, the Phillipines, Korea and Thailand.

John’s diary has grown so big he refers to it as his ‘Omnium Gatherum’ and says several libraries have offered to exhibit the vast work.

It is also more than three times the length of the diaries of Samuel Pepys, the most famous of them all.

He added: “In past times many diarists had the time to sketch and paint to add interest to their record. In 1975 I thought I can at least take photos.

“A fortnight off is taken at Christmas every year to update two indexes – one for the text and one for the illustrations.

“After all, there is no point in squirreling away all that information in 22,000 pages if you can’t retrieve it, and I’m pleased to say any subject or illustration can be found within three minutes.

“I do it because it is fun and it is also useful to show the changes in our village and over Dorset over more than three decades – and to remind you how fickle memory can be.

“Some times I write just one sentence, some times I have a rush of blood to the head and I can write an essay or commentary or two or three thousand words.”

He added: “To begin with the diary was quite hard work and pretty boring.

“But after a few years I started being honest with myself and thought ‘what the hell am I doing this for if I can’t tell the truth?’

“It’s amazing looking back how your opinions change over the years – and sometimes you don’t like what you read from 30 years ago.”

10 volumes plus index on display this weekend at village hall.

John has now put his diary on public display for the first time. Ten volumes and one index are on show this weekend at the Fontmell Magna Village Archive Society’s 9th annual exhibition, held in the village hall.

* Example extracts of the mundane events which John has recorded in his diary:

On Saturday August 20 1988 he wrote: “Worked all morning getting the Japanese article No4 done and was gardening all afternoon, weeding and starting up plants

“Sheila, James and the children came back from 3 weeks holiday in Devon at Newton Abbott and enjoyed themselves.

“Sheila stayed on for supper and kindly bought us a bottle of gin and some clotted cream.

“We did some shopping in Blandford at lunch time and for the first time ever I was totally unable to park in the Ham car park even at 1.15pm!

“There were at least 20 cars driving around the totally occupied car park so I pulled out after dropping Barbara and parked across the road at Blandford St Mary!

“Bed at midnight and slept like a log.”

Fri November 4 1993: “Another sunny but very cold day I was thinking of another trip into the New Forest but ditched it.

“Just as well as I did all the work for Mr Hayami demanded of me in a fax which arrived for me while I was away.

“Also BC wants me to repeat Dalgety pig conference at Longleat next Thursday.”

July 15th 1998: “Barbara was weighed last week and took off half a pound while Alison managed 1 and a half pounds both are excellent efforts considering they spent a week in Italy.

“I am still at 13st neither gaining or loosing so I must do better.”

While on work trip to Thailand he wrote: “Also came across a stall selling Buddhas made of clay – they looked old but you can hardly tell in this city there are too many fakes.

“I didn’t ask the man for one as I already spent enough money.

“Back to the hotel as I felt a bit crook (that damned restaurant and I only sampled the cooked bits) so I took a couple of ‘anets’ and that did the trick. Showered changed and set out again for silk shop.”

Previous Post

Cow stuns experts by giving birth to twin calves that are DIFFERENT COLOURS

Next Post

Pensioner couple spend their summer holiday travelling Britain for FREE… using their BUS PASSES

Next Post
Retired couple Michael and Jackie Burden who decided to travel from their home in Clyst Honiton, Devon to Carlisle, Cumbria, solely relying on their OAP bus passes for a journey that took eight days

Pensioner couple spend their summer holiday travelling Britain for FREE... using their BUS PASSES

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Stay Connected test

  • 116 Followers
  • 60k Followers
  • 174k Subscribers
  • 23.6k Followers
  • 99 Subscribers
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Women love cheesy chat up lines, a study has revealed

Top 20 cheesy chat-up lines ladies really love

March 5, 2014
The top ten most well-known bingo phrases

The top ten most well-known bingo phrases

January 21, 2014
The horses thunder towards a jump at the Grand National

Amazing racehorse names which never made it

April 23, 2014
HGH Injections Brands: Which Ones Are Best?

HGH Injections Brands: Which Ones Are Best?

January 14, 2019
Chris Fear, 33, outside the Coral betting shop which is refusing to pay out on his 485/1 winning bet

Boycott Coral! Bookmaker faces protest after refusing to pay out on a football fan’s 485/1 bet

184
Women love cheesy chat up lines, a study has revealed

Top 20 cheesy chat-up lines ladies really love

147
Women feel invisible to the opposite sex at the age of 51, researchers found

Women begin feeling invisible to men ‘when they turn 51’

138
UKIP candidate claims Jews murdered each other in the Holocaust in masterplan to create State of Israel

UKIP candidate claims Jews murdered each other in the Holocaust in masterplan to create State of Israel

105
Best Activities for Adrenaline Junkies

Best Activities for Adrenaline Junkies

August 4, 2022
Trading indices is an easy way to trade for beginners

Trading indices is an easy way to trade for beginners

August 4, 2022
VA Lawyer for Camp Lejeune Toxic Water

VA Lawyer for Camp Lejeune Toxic Water

July 29, 2022
How To Create The Perfect Vaping Experience

How To Create The Perfect Vaping Experience

July 28, 2022

Recent News

Best Activities for Adrenaline Junkies

Best Activities for Adrenaline Junkies

August 4, 2022
Trading indices is an easy way to trade for beginners

Trading indices is an easy way to trade for beginners

August 4, 2022
VA Lawyer for Camp Lejeune Toxic Water

VA Lawyer for Camp Lejeune Toxic Water

July 29, 2022
How To Create The Perfect Vaping Experience

How To Create The Perfect Vaping Experience

July 28, 2022
SWNS

SWNS all rights reserved. Copyright 2020

Follow Us

Browse by Category

  • Auto
  • Blog
  • Business
  • Celebrity
  • Gaming
  • Life
  • Lifestyle
  • News
  • Pictures
  • Property
  • Review
  • Sport
  • SWNS
  • Tech
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized

Recent News

Best Activities for Adrenaline Junkies

Best Activities for Adrenaline Junkies

August 4, 2022
Trading indices is an easy way to trade for beginners

Trading indices is an easy way to trade for beginners

August 4, 2022
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

Real Fix is a trading style of South West News Service Limited.
Copyright © 2020 South West News Service Limited.

No Result
View All Result
  • Business
  • Life
  • Celebrity
  • Sport
  • Blog
  • Auto
  • Tech

Real Fix is a trading style of South West News Service Limited.
Copyright © 2020 South West News Service Limited.