Gill Rogers

I met Gillian Rogers at the University of Keele in late 1963 or early 1964. I have no recollection of our first encounter, though it was probably at one of the 'hops' in the students' union building. She was a year ahead of me and, after the months of 'freedom' I had just spent in Southern Rhodesia, I was deeply unhappy at being cooped up on Keele's tiny out-of-town campus. As a result, I was drinking heavily, but I do know that, by the time I left on the North Africa expedition in summer 1964, I already thought she was very special.

The North Africa trip had been a chance to escape back to Africa but I found myself once again in England, and at Keele. Gill was of the few good things about the return, and very quickly we took to spending a great deal of time together.

I thought she was gorgeous. She was fun to be with, we seemed to have a lot in common, and she calmed me down, though I still didn't work very hard. Her rooms were in Harrowby Hall and by that time one of my main subjects was Geology, so I used to spend time in the palaeontology lab which overlooked the path the Harrowby ladies took to lectures, less because of any great interest in fossils than in the hope of seeing her pass by.

At the end of the 1964/5 year I failed my geology exams and should have been sent down - except that Gill babysat for the geology professor, Wolverson Cope, who was persuaded, perhaps by his wife Evelyn, to let me re-sit during the summer vac. I spent weeks at Gill's home working, took the resit, and passed. By way of a celebration, we motored over the Alps in Gill's black Morris 1000, down to Castiglione on Italy's west coast.

By Whitsun 1965 we were engaged, having bought a sapphire ring together in Cheltenham.

I love this picture, in part because it shows how happy we were, in part also because our clothes are so our sort of 1960s gear. The fashion at Keele was for everyone to wear industrial donkey jackets and tatty blue jeans. We didn't. The friends we were with that day were working people, Brian a travelling salesman, Val a reporter in a local newspaper, and we fitted in with them.

Gill made her dress, and her bag and slingback shoes were dark blue leather. I wore black jeans and chelsea-style boots. We drove out to pubs in the Peak District, or enjoyed good food at places like Churches Mansions near Nantwich. I was, at last, working at my studies, but life was fun.