Valeted for Judi Dench, and Still Damp

Su was Su Harper-Clarke, the head girl. She did the talking, and Dench told her she had always wanted to be in Guys and Dolls but had never been cast. The pair of them were about to appear in it. Advantage, sixth form.

Then the drive home. Richard Grayson, the head of drama, had helped plan the building, and his list of requirements included “no windows because a theatre does not have windows”. Now he was taking its namesake back to York, and had his small Peugeot professionally valeted for the occasion. When he opened the doors he found the seats “still slightly damp”. Dench kicked off her shoes and said it didn’t matter at all.

I once had our car valeted to drive another mother to a PTA quiz. She found half a satsuma in the door pocket. She also said it didn’t matter at all, but she kept her shoes on.

On the Beverley bypass the police stopped Grayson to ask why he was driving so slowly. He explained that he had a precious passenger; she laughed, was recognised, and they were sent on their way. Thirty years later he admitted the real reason: he was “driving slowly to prolong this dream-like experience”.

I drove the other mother home at a perfectly normal speed, for the opposite reason.