Details of life at Crofton House school appear in an unpublished childhood diary of Elizabeth Firth (born 1797 at Thornton, near Bradford).

But when he finds his childhood diary while cleaning out the building, he decides to share.

This shift is instantly dramatic: the ageing narrator in dull, sensible tweeds angrily addresses the elegant Victorian ghosts conjured from the pages of his childhood diary.

However, in a meeting with Ellery Sedgwick, publisher of the Atlantic Monthly, she arranged to publish her childhood diary instead, which, if authentic, would have been written c. 1903-4.

Alerted by Doinaş, the critic's mother had destroyed all manuscripts he kept in his Cluj home, including his childhood diary (which reportedly opened with the words "I want to be a writer").

Ms. Reich is now translating Clara Schumann's unpublished childhood diaries.

Jackson King visits Bendix' home and finds his childhood diary there.

He seems to have written no childhood diaries or letters, stated no vaunting ambitions to his friends.

Worse, there's not much of any real value or interest here-no treasures or magic, no childhood diary, no valuable antiques.