18th December 1661
“At the office upon business extraordinary all the morning, then to my Lady Sandwich’s to dinner, whither my wife, who had been at the painter’s, came to me, and there dined, and there I left her, and to the Temple my brother and I to see Mrs. Turner, who begins to be better, and so back to my Lady’s, where much made of, and so home to my study till bed-time, and so to bed.” (Samuel Pepys)
18th December 1798
“Breakfasted at Spurriers—dined at Rhodes’s—and lodged at Mr. Laws in the Federal City.” (George Washington; he died 14th December 1799)
18th December 1938
“Leeds all day, morning in bed, conversations with Geoffrey Lloyd, who as usual, has a Brazilian lady in tow – he can never resist the darkly romantic dago type. He finds them dashing but Kay Norton tells me that he doesn’t go to bed with them or anyone else – that he is in fact a virgin. I have my private doubts. Pauline Winn, who is already just like her mother, was amusing about her mother’s mad sister, Dorothy Paget, who is a famous eccentric. The woman lives alone in Balfour Place, eats like a horse, gets up at 7 p.m., dines at 6 a.m., keeps a double staff of servants to administer to her eccentricities. Occasionally she goes to a play, takes a large box, sits alone, and is always accompanied by a hamper of food which she munches during the play.
Alan, Patsy and Brigid, marvellously beautiful, dined with me. Afterwards an unpleasant half-joking scène de jalousie on Patsy’s part. She is so unsoignée and very much on Alan’s nerves. He is on the point of breaking off the engagement. She, poor darling, is so in love. It is that. I pleaded with him to follow her home to St James’s Square, and he did – and is there now as I write …” (Henry, ‘Chips’, Channon)
18th December 1956
“Lunch with Peter Thorne at House of Commons. Eden looks very washed out in spite of a heavy sunburn. Harold Wilson most rude and disagreeable.
Dine at the Beefsteak. Arthur Onslow says how at a Buckingham Palace banquet one night he noticed that the food on the hot plates was tepid, so he suggested that a hot cupboard should be bought. This was done at a cost of only £18. Nobody had ever thought of it before.” (Kenneth Rose)
18th December 1981
“Had to be the heaviest schedule & most frustrating day yet. One long series of meetings on bud. on Nat. Security and half a dozen other things. Broke the routine in late afternoon to go over to the W.H. for W.H. staff party. It was nice. All these good people who take care of us & tend the place with their families. Most important meeting with heads of Auto Co’s. That industry is facing total disaster. I’m recommending that we tell Japan we are going to impose same restrictions on their exports as they do on import of Am. cars in Japan. Auto makers need passage of Clean Air Act changes which can reduce price of Am. cars. Met with Sen. leaders who are beginning to panic on taxes. They want us to raise or impose new ones. I’m resisting. D–n it our program will work & it’s based on reduced taxes.” (Ronald Reagan)
That’s a very good idea.