Exhausting day – very mild for the time of year. Quite a bit of Christmas shopping, plus a last visit to the university before Christmas: finally I have everybody’s work – and I’ve marked all but the four pieces on which I have to consult with the photography man.

Back on the ancestor trail, the picture is of my father’s father, Charles Frederick Lenton, born in Norman’s Cross, Northamptonshire, 1879. I have very few memories of him, but I remember a family gathering at Poringland where he gave me a hard-backed exercise book to write in. I remember distinctly being thrilled at this. He was once a railway lampman, but he had various other jobs, including working in the shoe-trade and – so I am told – helping to build the road over Mousehold Heath, Norwich, in the early 20th century.