Page 27 - My Story

Caron. She was, is tiny, less than five feet tall and made me look big and clumsy. I retreated to the back
of the room where I sat underneath the sideboard, wishing I could go home but not wanting to appear
rude. Suddenly the door burst open and Shirley, who had been ordered to find some men, burst in with
a whole crowd of young people, men and women. They had all been fortifying themselves at the pub!

Within minutes Peter Lanzer had spotted me under the sideboard and he and his friend Norman
were plying me with potato chips. Peter finally wrested the chips away from Norman and came and sat
on the floor with me and started chatting. He was handsome with huge blue eyes and curly brown hair
and the easiest person to talk to I had ever met. We exchanged some information – he was 23, I’d never
known anyone that old - he asked for my phone number and then it was time to leave with Jackie and
Peter. On the walk home, we talked about him and I said I hoped he would call.

It was three agonising days before he called and nonchalantly asked me out for the following
Saturday. I had already promised to go and watch Jackie’s dress rehearsal of The Mikado on that day but
suggested we went together. He agreed, so we went. We saw the dress rehearsal – Jackie was one of the
three little maids and Peter was playing the cello in the orchestra.

Three little maids from school are we
Pert as a schoolgirl well can be
Filled to the brim with girlish glee
Three little maids from school

After the rehearsal we came out of the theatre, Peter ready to start the evening but I said, “Oh
my goodness. I’m late. I have to be home by 10”. Speechless, Peter bundled me into a taxi (I thought
he must be so rich) and, as we arrived at my front door said, “Do you mind if I bring my Vespa next time?”
I thought vesper? Has something to do with prayers. He must be religious. But said, “That’ll be fine” and
thought no more about it.

Next time came around, I got dressed up in my pencil slim skirt and my stiletto heels and Peter
drove up on his scooter, his Vespa. Notwithstanding I hiked my skirt up, thanking God that I would be
behind the man, hopped on the back and we were off.

Meanwhile Jon called to make arrangements for seeing the boat race. I must admit, I hesitated –
I really wanted to get into the social whirl of a Cambridge college – but then said, “No” and that I had met
someone else.

Peter and I were in a pub about two weeks later – it was either The Spaniards or Jack Straw’s
Castle in Hampstead. We had gone there with other people but were sitting alone outside when he
suddenly said, “You know, I’m not Jewish”. No, I didn’t know. I had always mixed with an assortment of
people with an assortment of beliefs, but I suppose because he was always with Jewish people, his man-
friends were Jewish, I had made that assumption. So? And that was what I said.

Two weeks later, on a walk on Wimbledon Common he proposed to me and I happily said, “Yes”.
It is worth noting that the Goon Show, a popular and very funny, zany radio show starring Peter Sellars,
Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe had that week announced, “She’s popular, she’s desirable, she uses –
Wimbledon Common”.

We went home and told my parents. They were delighted and thought we might have a double
wedding with Jackie and Peter. We had not mentioned that Peter was not Jewish. We did that about a
week later. They were horrified. “Of course, you can’t marry him,” said my father, “You can be friends
with them, but we don’t marry them!” Them? “Unless he wants to convert,” said my mother. “I’ll
convert,” said Peter. “You won’t”, said I, “Why should you go through that when you don’t believe in God
or religion?”

We were told not to say anything to “the family”. We told Jackie and Peter and we told our
friends. They all seemed very happy for us.

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