My Dad and I were watching the news, in this house, on the 9th August 1974 when Nixon resigned over Watergate. I’d promised the elderly relative that for Bleeding London, I would cover the patch of E13 where he grew up. And this is 27 Gardner Road, the house where he was born and where his parents lived for the rest of their lives. I vaguely remember that my grandmother was in hospital and so Dad and I went to stay there for a week to look after my grandfather. I can clearly remember the outside privy with Izal toilet paper, a front room that was only used for best, newspapers that were kept under the cushions of the chair, the plastic roses on the table that was always covered in a cloth, the local sweetie shop (which is now a doctor’s surgery) and Nixon’s resignation. And as for today’s word … well, “roorback” means ‘A false report or slander promulgated for political purposes'(OED) and I seem to remember there were one or two of those in Watergate.
Day #244 of a 365 project, where the daily pic is informed by the OED word of the day.