| Description | Entries dated Thursday 1 January 1953 to Tuesday 1 December 1953.
During the year Coward performed, in cabaret, at the Cafe de Paris; played the part of King Magnus in 'The Apple Cart' at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, with comments concerning the rehearsals and performances of the production; and there is reference to continued work on 'Future Indefinite'. In March Coward records the death of Queen Mary, and discusses the mental health of Vivien Leigh. In June he starred in 'Stars at Midnight' at the London Palladium and watched the Coronation on television. In July he discusses the romantic situation between Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend, and associated newspaper reports.
People referenced in the diary and journal include Sylvia Foot; Edward and Kathleen Molyneux; John and Elizabeth Pringle; Clementine Churchill; Sarah Churchill; Mary and Christopher Soames; Michael Redgrave; Max Beaverbrook; Lorn Loraine; Violet Coward; Katharine Hepburn; Irene Selznick; Graham Greene; Katherine Walston; Vivien Leigh; Hugh 'Binkie' Beaumont; Gladys Calthrop; Johnnie Ray; Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne; Robert 'Bobby' Andrews; Laurence Olivier; Joyce Carey; Graham Payn; Cole Lesley; Emile Littler; John Gordon; Bing Crosby; Margaret 'Maggie' Leighton; Al Parker and Margaret Johnston; Laurence Harvey; Lord Louis 'Dickie' and Edwina Mountbatten; Princess Margaret; David Niven; Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh; Ina Claire; Ava Gardner; Paolo Langheim; Duchessa Sermoneta; Diana and Duff Cooper; King Farouk of Egypt; Rex Harrison and Lilli Palmer; Margaret 'Maggie' Case; Graham Payn; Cecil Tennant; Erica Marx; Robert 'Bobby' Helpmann; William 'Willie' Somerset Maugham; Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother; Norman Hackforth; Peter Ustinov; Clemence Dane [Winifred 'Winnie' Ashton]; Odette Massigli; Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent |