Evening Standard

Evening Standard is identified in the diary as a London newspaper whose coverage carried a story about Fred allegedly trying to sell Bianca Jagger’s autograph. Its appearance matters because a teasing claim in the social circle proves to have reached the press: what Bianca had been led to believe as a joke was, in fact, reported in print.

Place in the London Social Record

During the London entries of June 1978, the diary associates Evening Standard with the Harmsworth household, noting that Pat Harmsworth’s husband owned the paper. This detail places it within the same network of media, parties, and public figures that the diary records, rather than presenting it only as a source of news.

The Autograph Story

On June 20, Bianca was teased with the story that Fred had tried to sell her autograph on the King’s Road and that nobody wanted it; she believed the claim and became upset again. The next day, while reading newspapers, the diarist and companions discovered that Evening Standard really had published an item about Fred trying to sell the autograph. The diary does not give the item’s wording or further details, but the reversal is clear: the report existed, and the supposed joke had touched a real piece of newspaper coverage.