Jubilee

Prince Charles was on TV the other night in a documentary for the Diamond Jubilee. In it he claimed to have a vivid memory of his mother wearing the heavy crown whilst practising for the Coronation. That may well be so but personally I find it difficult to remember anything at all from when I was just four years old. One thing that does stick with me from infants school was when someone had a birthday. Friends were chosen to stand in front of the whole school holding candles aloft whilst "Happy Birthday" was sung. I dreaded being chosen as I hated the hot candle fat running down my fingers. Another early recollection from my childhood was as a six year old but even then I only have vague memories of a visit to the Festival of Britain in 1951.

I suppose if your mother is the Queen then perhaps it is possible that you will remember grand occasions from when you were a young child. Having said that for many years, I had a vivid picture in my mind's eye of a fire in a row of garages off South Street in Ilkeston and my uncle and my dad pushing cars out of the flames. As far as I can ascertain, if such a fire did occur, it was about a year before I was born and there's no-one left in my family to ask anymore. One suggestion that has been made is that I overheard a conversation whilst at an early age and this has been transformed into a memory. Maybe the same happened to Prince Charles but maybe he does in fact remember. Who am I to say?