A digital archive of the 1974 around-the-world family journey — from Townsville to Hong Kong, Bangkok, Athens, London, Edinburgh, and home again. Preserved from Joy's typewritten diary, collected menus, brochures, and the quiet keepsakes of a trip that shaped a family.
In April 1974, our family set off from Townsville on a journey that would take us halfway around the world. Mum typed the diary when we got home — page after careful page on the typewriter, recording every flight delay, every meal, every moment that mattered. The boys were small. The world was enormous. A British Airways Jumbo was new to all of us and gave us all a shock at its seating capacity.
These pages sat in a blue scrapbook for fifty years, alongside brochures from the Empire State Building, a menu from Simpson's-in-the-Strand dated Thursday 9 May 1974, a leaflet from Westminster Abbey, and a pancake menu from a family restaurant in Virginia. The everyday ephemera of a trip that, looking back, was anything but everyday.
This capsule is an attempt to bring those pages into the light — not to improve on them, but to make sure they survive. Happy Memories, Dad. Love, Joy.
"We got out at Piccadilly Circus and we were all so thrilled to be there but then a very disappointed voice said… 'but Daddy, where are the clowns?' No one had bothered to explain to Craigie what sort of a Circus it really was!"
Twenty typewritten pages recording every day of the journey — from the first flight out of Townsville to the train home from Edinburgh.
→Scrapbook pages from the blue album — a stone bridge, yellow chrysanthemums, pelicans, and the people along the way.
→Simpson's-in-the-Strand, 9 May 1974. Trabeltown Family Restaurant, Virginia. The prices alone are a time capsule.
→The Empire State Building visitor guide. Westminster Abbey's service card. Tourist ephemera collected and kept for half a century.
→The first time Mum and Dad rode the London Underground. Craig's face at Piccadilly Circus. A family's first Jumbo jet.
→Scott's Chinese hat from Hong Kong. A tartan rug from the Trossachs. Craigie's little soldier from Trafalgar Square.
→The Peak Railway. The Emerald Buddha. The Trossachs in rain. Greenwich Observatory at zero latitude. A world tour in four weeks.
→Simpson's on the Strand. The Stage Coach in Ely. Golden Egg on Victoria Street. Fortnum's for lunch. The Hyatt at 4 a.m.
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It was just 12 o'clock so it wasn't too busy and the waiters in their long white aprons looked after the boys so well. The carvers with their big meat trollers and tall hats were hovering everywhere & Mum & Dad were thrilled to see it all. Mum & Dad had Roast Beef and Len & I had Ribs of Mutton.
A fold-out tourist brochure with its iconic cross-section showing every floor. Kept in the scrapbook for fifty years alongside diary pages and menus.
We all found it very exciting and interesting. We rang Viv at work from the phone box across from Central Hall. The visitor leaflet survived the whole journey home.
Trevor Scott picked us up at 1.45 and took us to Townsville airport. The TAA plane was due to take off at 2.30 p.m. but after all the problems with bookings the week before, we arrived at the airport only to find we were not booked on the flight.
Uncle Frank had asked Dad to give a photograph to a lady called Annie whom they had met a few months before. She owned a shop and we found Annie and her husband pretty easily, in an arcade across the main road from the Hyatt.
We had a good look round with the help of a local young guide who told us that he was once a Monk and had an Australian girlfriend. He was a nice chap and had many an interesting story to tell. We spent so long looking around this huge, beautiful, incredible place that we had to forget about seeing anything else.
We asked a bobby where it would be best to stand and he advised us to stand on the stairs in the middle of the Queen Vic statue opposite the Palace. The ceremony itself was wonderful — so colourful with the different guards' uniforms and we enjoyed every minute of it.
It was beaut to see Cambridge again and refresh our memories. We drove around the busy market square several times, the church, University buildings, River Cam etc. and loved it. It was so wet we drove on to Ely with its huge cathedral in the middle of the town.
We walked from Hyde Park corner down Piccadilly to Fortnums where we had arranged to meet Viv for lunch. This was really lovely and we all enjoyed it. Scott was wrapt in their apple pies & Mum tried their famous "marrons" — Auntie Freda's weakness.
Grand Divan Tavern, est. 1828. Joints from the Trolley: Roast Sirloin of Beef, Yorkshire Pudding £1.80. Coffee £0.20. Featuring Arthur Moss, Master Cook.
Roast Saddle of Mutton £1.60. Steak, Kidney & Mushroom Pie £1.25. Poached Fillet of Dover Sole £1.95. Smoked Scotch Salmon £1.10. Cream of Tomato £0.30.
Simpson's Treacle Roll £0.35. Sherry Trifle with Whipped Fresh Cream £0.45. English Cheeseboard with Stilton £0.25. Table Money £0.20 each person.
The world's most famous observatory. A fold-out brochure with the iconic cross-section, panoramic views, and a Rand McNally map of Manhattan.
Chick Rakes, Owner & Operator. Buttermilk Pancakes 90¢. Children's Breakfast $1.00. All the coffee you can drink, 25¢. "We Reserve the Right to Refuse Service to Anyone."
"You are entering a famous Church which contains the memorials of many generations of men." Includes Abbey Services and a prayer. Printed by Westerham Press.
A whimsical cartoon of the dining room in full swing — waiters carving joints at silver-domed trolleys, diners at white-clothed tables. The ritual of the trolley, unchanged since 1828.
Fried Chicken Dinner $2.25. Virginia Ham Steak $2.95. Club Sandwich $1.65. Homemade Pies 50¢. "We Would Like for You to Come Back."
Holy Communion, Matins, Evensong — the daily rhythm of worship at Westminster Abbey. Includes a prayer for visitors and details of the Abbey's musical tradition.
2nd Class Ordinary Return via Edinburgh. Ticket No. 00530. Fare £15.20. Valid 3 months. Stamped with a large red "R." The train that took Mum, Joy, and Dad to Edinburgh for their Scottish weekend.
Ticket DT/543345. Fare £3.60. "This portion to be retained by the passenger." The afternoon tour through Stirling, the Trossachs, and Callander — Dr Finlay's home town.
"Souvenir Receipt of a Visit to the Top of the World's Famous Building." Two red tickets — Nos. 117289 & 117290. The lift to the 86th floor, views estimated at four miles.
A page of mounted tickets and stubs from the trip: railway tickets, bus passes, receipt stubs. Each one a tiny passport stamp marking another leg of the 1974 journey.
"The most vivid first impression was the bright, vivid green which was so prolific. 'The green of England' was certainly correct."
Wrote twenty typewritten pages recording every day of the trip. Organised the packing, managed the boys, and kept the blue scrapbook. Inscribed it: "Happy Memories Dad."
Booked the flights, hired the cars, carried the boys when the walking got too much. Spent two days at Wallingford Research Station mid-trip. Bought a suit on Kings Road.
Wore a Chinese hat from Hong Kong, a light blue parker from Harrods, and was wrapt in apple pies at Fortnum's. Got car sick on the way to Cambridge. Tried to board the Discovery.
Asked where the clowns were at Piccadilly Circus. Yellow parker from Harrods. Loved the helicopter at Battersea Park. His favourite food was fruit — a huge pineapple in Bangkok.
Thrilled by Harrods after hearing about it for years. First ride on the London Underground. Tried Simpson's famous "marrons." Bought a raincoat at the Army and Navy Store.
Got lost in the hotel basement maze in Edinburgh. Investigated Wellington's grave at St Paul's. His great-grandmother had spoken of Wellington — Apsley House moved him deeply.
Joy's diary sat in a blue scrapbook for half a century. Now it's here — alongside the menus, the brochures, and the photographs — so the family can read it, add to it, and make sure these memories survive for another fifty years.