John Edward Cooper’s Notes
Chris meets Peter Gooding
Early Days
   1.
David Jones was a pivotal character in these Early Days: it was through Jones that I met Chris Woodhead[more] (I dismiss the brief encounter in spring or summer 1961 through Leech[more]; that was not really a meeting) and through him that I met Peter Gooding.[more] And in fact it was through Jones that Chris first met Peter Gooding.
2. Chris was doing something with Jones in Jones’s back garden when Gooding appeared. And he didn’t come the usual way to the back, anti-clockwise round the house (as you would look at the house in plan) by the tarred path; he came clockwise, by way of a gap of a few inches between the garage at the left of the house and the fence dividing the Joneses’ from next door. Peter had perhaps rung the front doorbell and been told by Jones’s Mum, “He’s in the garden”; and so, to avoid going round three sides of the house, taken a short cut down the one side. 3. Peter’s hair was always carefully Brylcreemed and combed; and he wore on this occasion a light blue short-sleeved shirt and probably khaki shorts—khaki shorts were very common in those days. He was afflicted with a stammer, and this probably made him shy of meeting new friends. Certainly he gave Chris the impression on this occasion of not wanting much to do with him; he didn’t say much to Chris then. 4. On another occasion Jones took Chris down School Road and left into the unmetalled road which led to Limebrest Farm, to the caravan site [trailer park] there, where Peter lived. But Peter was out.[1] Chris did meet Mrs. Gooding, Peter’s Mum, though. [1] But Peter was out: Few people had telephones in the UK in those days, so it was not possible to call first. Of my peers, only Jones had a telephone at home. It’s possible that Jones had a prior arrangement to visit Peter, and that Peter was out even so: that would not be untypical of Peter.5. Chris did not see much of Peter Gooding or get to know him till later, 1963-time, when he and I started seeing each other. Then we formed quite a regular threesome, or if Trevor was not “working”[2] (doing his school homework) a foursome. [2] “Working”—to be pronounced here as /ˈwɚkɪn/ or /ˈwəkɪn/ in imitation of Trevor’s Bolton accent. Working is normally pronounced /ˈwɜːkɪŋ/. |
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