How Bath woman's diary became a radio hit

From Bridget Jones and Adrian Mole to Anne Frank and Samuel Pepys - the intimate secrets confessed by diarists have facinated millions.

But with the pace of technology ever increasing, it is not surprising that the newest diary can be found on the internet - and it concerns the life of a young Bath woman.

Technology whiz Ellen Stafford, 20, has written a computer diary chronicling her day-to-day life in Bath for the past year.

And recently the web designer, who lives in Grosvenor, was amazed when a researcher from Chris Evans' Virgin Radio rang her up, asking if they could feature her diary on the station's Pete and Geoff show.

Ellen said: "I couldn't believe it, but of course I said they could, and now the trials and tribulations of one Ellen Stafford, as they put it, features on the show about two evenings a week."

The former Oldfield School pupil says her diary concentrates on her life and thoughts as a 20-year-old woman living and working in Bath.

She said "I talk about going out, how I am feeling, or my thoughts about what's going on in the world and in the news."

"I try to update it every day, and really enjoy doing it."

Ellen promises that despite the possible pressures of her new-found celebrity, she is not tempted to make things up for her diary.

"No, I don't make it up, and if there's not much going on in my life I tend to focus on world issues instead."

Ellen has even been rung up live on air by the radio hosts, who have asked her up to London to visit the studio.

She said: "It is quite an achievement to be doing this, and particularly fun as radio has always interested me."

Ellen's web page can be found at http://www.duff.org/~ellen/

The diary of Ellen Stafford, aged 20 and a bit

Here is an extract from Ellen's diary:
Sunday, 18th April 1999
Today is my birthday. I have had a pretty crap day really because I have felt sick all day. I haven't written in here in the past few days so I thought I should do so.
Today I woke up at about 8am after having about two hours' sleep all night and opened my presents. I got £185 from family. Pete bought me some jeans, a 3D puzzle, a computer book, and a rude dot-to-dot book. It is funny.
Thanks to everyone who showed up at my meet last night. I think there were about 27 of us and I will be putting the pictures up very soon. I finally got my engagement ring back and it fits so it is great.
On Friday I went to see Pete's parents - they were really cool an I got on really well. Pete has a couple of days off work so I will spend some time with him. If I feel a bit better tomorrow we will go out to the beach.
Still haven't found a kitten. Oh well. At least I am 20 now...I hated being a teenager...I must update my pages...More soon...very tired....