Roger has kept a diary for most of his adult life and they make interesting and often poignant reading. He has more than forty hand-written notebooks, two of which have been used for this book. There are entries about day-to-day domestic activities, work, politics, sport and his relationship with his family, in particular of his wife Iris as she was dying from cancer and the care and support she received from the staff at the Royal Marsden Hospital, St Christophers Hospice and Macmillan nurses.