"I cast aside my sweat-soaked corset in some relief while Kate collapses on the grass. She cries. I beg for alcohol."
Emma Thompson's diary on this day in 1995, the final day of the Sense and Sensibility shoot:
In 1661, Samuel Pepys managed to get into Westminster Abbey to watch the coronation of King Charles II. He then celebrated a little too much, and later threw up all over himself. His diary for that day:
"I thought I should have vomited."
A decade before publication of 'Jane Eyre', 19-year-old Charlotte Brontë worked as a teacher. She hated her job, and in her journal called her pupils "fat headed oafs" and "dolts." An entry she wrote on this day in 1836:
"I no longer love the sun or the flowers."
In the days and weeks that followed Pierre Curie's death, Marie Curie kept a mourning journal. This entry came on 14 May 1906:
"My cat moves silently, making not a single sound, like a black dragon above the clouds."
In his diary on this day in 889, Emperor Uda affectionately spoke of his beloved cat:
"She thought she was my mother—was ashamed and outraged if I was noisy or loud-talking, slapped me if I was blah, avoided me scornfully if I was drunk, approved if I typed."
On this day in 1945, Dawn Powell's cat died:
“To day has bin a memorable day and i thank god i have bin sperd to see it…”
Emilie Davis’ diary on 1st Jan 1863, a momentous day on which millions of African American slaves in Confederate states were officially granted their freedom:
On this day in 1968, Jimi Hendrix knelt in front of stage at a Joni Mitchell gig and recorded the whole thing on his reel-to-reel tape recorder.
Read his diary entry from that day, and listen to one of the songs he recorded:
When published in 1902, Mary MacLane's diary caused uproar. Never before had a woman been so frank and confessional. But her book was a hit: 100,000 copies sold in the first month alone. This was the second diary entry, written on this day in 1901:
"Donald [Trump] was the kid who threw cake at the birthday party... The revelation that he has a collection of Hitler’s speeches at the office is going to make a lot of news."
Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown on this day in 1990:
"ABBEY ROAD."
On this day in 1969, the Beatles were photographed on a zebra crossing outside EMI Studios. In his diary that evening, the band's road manager drew the scene:
In her diary on this day in 1824, enveloped in grief following the deaths of three children and her husband in less than a decade, Mary Shelley wrote of her ongoing struggle:
"I am just going outside and may be some time."
In his diary on this day in 1912, Robert Falcon Scott recorded the last words of fellow explorer Lawrence Oates:
"There seems to be no end to the senseless wickedness done on this little planet in a minor solar system, and we puny mortals appear to be decreasing in importance so far as the universe is concerned."
Sir Alec Guinness' diary on this day in 1995:
"I was just turning on my computer when we heard this enormous explosion. No-one could tell what it was. Someone looked out the window and saw a gaping hole in the side of the WTC with black smoke billowing out."
On this day in 2001:
"It is impossible to think that I shall never sit with you again and hear your laugh. That everyday for the rest of my life you will be away."
On this day in 1932, weeks after the death of Lytton Strachey, Dora Carrington wrote in her diary:
On this day in 1661, King Charles II was crowned. One person lucky enough to witness the spectacle was Samuel Pepys, who later described in some detail the unforgettable day—and drunken evening that followed—in his diary:
In her diary on this day in 1942, a few days after going into hiding, Anne Frank described the secret annex in which she would spend the next two years:
Almost eight months in and visits to the Diaries of Note blog are rising steadily. I'm thoroughly enjoying this project and just wanted to thank everyone who follows it, be it here or via the newsletter. Loads more to come.
"At the moment there is wild shooting going on. Four times I have turned the lights out while writing this."
On this day in 1972, at the height of the Troubles, 17-year-old Eimear O'Callaghan wrote in her diary:
“We have a masterpiece on our hands.”
On this day in 1966, after seeing some early scenes from 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke wrote in his diary:
"I have drunk of the wine of life at last."
In 1907/8, Edith Wharton kept a diary in which she wrote of her affair with Morton Fullerton. Here's the entry she wrote on this day in 1908, as they spent time in Paris:
"Influenza is causing terrible devastation. Our family has had to split up to attend all the funerals."
The diary of Catalan writer Josep Pla, October 1918:
“All the skie was of a fiery aspect, like the top of a burning oven, and the light seene above 40 miles round about for many nights…”
On this day in 1666, John Evelyn described the astonishing fire that had engulfed London:
For 63 days in 1962, Michel Siffre isolated himself in an underground icy cavern devoid of clocks, calendars, and sunlight to explore the mysteries of the human body clock. Armed with only a diary, he recorded his shifting perception of time:
Margaret Thompson was one of hundreds of suffragettes to spend time at Holloway Prison. Her diary entry on this day in 1912, written nine days before she went on hunger strike:
"I sat watching the film, holding Marlene [Dietrich]'s hand, crushing it without noticing what I was doing. The film unwound, revolved, sparkled, outside of me, solitary, unfeeling... It had killed me."
Jean Cocteau's diary on this day in 1946:
"Although I feel no fear, my heart beats faster every time someone stops outside my door."
On this day in 1945, weeks before he was executed by the Gestapo, 21-year-old Danish resistance fighter Kim Malthe-Bruun wrote a diary entry from his cell:
“Color and I are one.”
On this day in 1914, newly “possessed” by colour as he toured Tunisia, Paul Klee noted this artistic turning point in his diary:
"I know that I shall not live very long. But I wonder, is that sad? Is a celebration more beautiful because it lasts longer?"
The diary of German artist Paula Modersohn-Becker:
“We must be at the helm at least once a day; we must feel the tiller-rope in our hands, and know that if we sail, we steer.”
Henry David Thoreau’s diary on this day in 1841:
On this day in 1966, as French filmmaking icon François Truffaut began work on his “saddest and most difficult” shoot—an adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s 'Fahrenheit 451'—he wrote in his diary.
Read the full entry from that day:
"Ran through Ritz, walked miles, drank in Dorchester."
On this day in 1945, Japan surrendered, bringing WWII to an end. One of the millions to celebrate was Princess Elizabeth. Her diary that day:
"It all began so beautifully."
On this day in 1963, John F. Kennedy was killed. Not far behind him, in the same motorcade, was Lady Bird Johnson, wife of then-Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson. She later described the chaos & heartbreak in her diary:
"Mr. Watson – come here – I want to see you."
On this day in 1876, Alexander Graham Bell used his newly-patented telephone to speak with his assistant. His entry from that day:
"Meet a twenty-four-year-old scriptwriter called J.J."
In his diary on this day in 1991, Richard E. Grant describes meeting a young scriptwriter who would eventually direct him in 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.'
In 2013, having been blind for 16 years, Kevin Coughlin began to see again. He recorded the return of his sight in a journal that’s filled with moments of joy as the "thick fog" lifts.
An entry written on this day in 2014:
"Apparently most of her work involves hanging in harness alongside Christopher Reeve..."
Michael Palin's diary on this day in 1977, after chatting with Margot Kidder as she worked on Superman:
"The ocean is strewn with a litter of woodwork, chairs and bodies."
In his diary on this day in 1912, Frederick A. Hamilton described the first day of the recovery operation after RMS Titanic struck an iceberg.
"I'm getting more confident and angrier each time."
On this day in 1948, after receiving yet another rejection letter from a publisher, a defiant Jack Kerouac wrote in his journal:
"Chaos ashore."
On this day in 1944, Reverend Leslie Skinner was the first British chaplain to land on the beaches of Normandy. His diary entry that day:
"I am the mother of these children, the wife of the director of this multimillion-dollar production, and I hadn’t given a thought to my family this morning."
Eleanor Coppola's diary on this day in 1976, as Apocalypse Now is being filmed: